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HISTORY 

OF  THE 

THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 
OF 

FREDERICK  SCHILLER, 

BY  THE 

REV  A.  J  W.  MORRISON,  M.A. 


NEW  YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 
329  &  331  PEARL  STREET, 
FRANKLIN  SQUARE. 

185  2. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 

Introduction. — General  Effects  of  the  Reform. — Revolt  of 
Matthias. — The  Emperor  cedes  Austria  and  Hungary  to  him. 
— Matthias  acknowledged  King  of  Bohemia. — The  Elector 
of  Cologne  abjures  the  Catholic  Religion. — Consequences. — 
The  Elector  Palatine. — Dispute  respecting  the  Succession  of 
Juliers. — Designs  of  Henry  IV.  of  France. — Formation  of  the 
Union. — The  League. — Death  of  the  Emperor  Rodolph. — 
Matthias  succeeds  him. — Troubles  in  Bohemia. — Civil  War. 
— Ferdinand  extirpates  the  Protestant  Religion  from  Styria. 
— The  Elector  Palatine,  Frederick  V.,  is  chosen  King  by  the 
Bohemians. — He  accepts  the  Crown  of  Bohemia. — Bethlem 
Gabor,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  invades  Austria. — The  Duke 
of  Bavaria  and  the  Princes  of  the  League  embrace  the  Cause 
of  Ferdinand. — The  Union  arm  for  Frederick. — The  Battle 
of  Prague,  and  total  Subjection  of  Bohemia  .    .  Page  1-81 

BOOK  II. 

State  of  the  Empire. — Of  Europe. — Mansfeld. — Christian, 
Duke  of  Brunswick. — Wallenstein  raises  an  Imperial  Army 
at  his  own  expense. — The  King  of  Denmark  defeated. — Death 
of  Mansfeld. — Edict  of  Restitution  in  1628. — Diet  at  Ratisbon. 
— Negotiations, — Wallenstein  deprived  of  the  Command. — 
Gustavus  Adolphus. — Swedish  Army. — Gustavus  Adolphus 
takes  his  Leave  of  the  States  at  Stockholm. — Invasion  by  the 
Swedes. — Their  Progress  in  Germany. — Count  Tilly  takes 
the  Command  of  the  Imperial  Troops. — Treaty  with  France. 
— Congress  at  Leipzig. — Siege  and  cruel  Fate  of  Magdeburg. 
—Firmness  of  the  Landgrave  of  Cassel. — Junction  of  the  Sax- 
ons with  the  Swedes. — Battle  of  Leipzig. — Consequences  of 
that  Victory  81-172 

BOOK  III. 

Situation  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  after  the  Battle  of  Leipzig. — 
Progress  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. — The  French  invade  Lorraine. 
— Frankfort  taken. — Capitulation  of  Mentz. — Tilly  ordered 
by  Maximilian  to  protect  Bavaria. — Gustavus  Adolphus  passes 


iv 


CONTENTS. 


the  Lech. — Defeat  and  Death  of  Tilly. — Gustavus  takes  Mu- 
nich.— The  Saxon  Army  invades  Bohemia  and  takes  Prague. 
— Distress  of  the  Emperor. — Secret  Triumph  of  Wallenstein. — 
He  offers  to  join  Gustavus  Adolphus. — Wallenstein  reassumes 
the  Command. — Junction  of  Wallenstein  with  the  Bavarians. 
— Gustavus  Adolphus  defends  Nuremberg. — Attacks  Wallen- 
stein's  Intrenchments. — Enters  Saxony. — Goes  to  the  Succor 
of  the  Elector  of  Saxony. — Marches  against  Wallenstein. — 
Battle  of  Lützen. — Death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. — Situation 
of  Germany  after  the  Battle  of  Lützen    ....  172-266 

BOOK  IV. 

Closer  Alliance  between  France  and  Sweden. — Oxenstiern 
takes  the  Direction  of  Affairs. — Death  of  the  Elector  Palatine. 
— Revolt  of  the  Swedish  Officers. — Duke  Bernard  takes  Rat- 
isbon. — Wallenstein  enters  Silesia. — Forms  Treasonable  De- 
signs.— Forsaken  by  the  Army. — Retires  to  Egra. — His  As- 
sociates put  to  Death. — Wallenstein's  Death. — His  Charac- 
ter   266-314 

BOOK  V. 

Battle  of  Nordlingen. — France  enters  into  an  Alliance 
against  Austria. — Treaty  of  Prague. — Saxony  joins  the  Em- 
peror.— Battle  of  Wittsbach  gained  by  the  Swedes. — Battle  of 
Rhinefeldt  gained  by  Bernard,  Duke  of  Weimar. — He  takes 
Breysach. — His  Death. — Death  of  Ferdinand  II. — Ferdinand 
III.  succeeds  him. — Celebrated  Retreat  of  Banner  in  Pome- 
rania. — His  Successes. — Death. — Torstensohn  takes  the  Com- 
mand.— Death  of  Richelieu  and  Louis  XIII. — Swedish  Vic- 
tory at  Jankowitz. — French  defeated  at  Friburg. — Battle 
of  Nordlingen  gained  by  Turenne  and  Conde. — Wrangel 
takes  the  Command  of  the  Swedish  Army. — Melander  made 
Commander  of  the  Emperor's  Army. — The  Elector  of  Bavaria 
breaks  the  Armistice. — He  adopts  the  same  Policy  toward 
the  Emperor  as  France  toward  the  Swedes. — The  Weime- 
rian  Cavalry  go  over  to  the  Swedes. — Conquest  of  New  Prague 
by  Koenisrsmark,  and  Tennination  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  314-370 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 

THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR  IN  GERMANY. 


BOOK  I. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  religious  wars  in  Germany, 
to  the  peace  of  Munster,  scarcely  any  thing  great  or  re- 
markable occurred  in  the  political  world  of  Europe  in 
which  the  Reformation  had  not  an  important  share.  All 
the  events  of  this  period,  if  they  did  not  originate  in, 
soon__became  mixed  up  with,  the  question  of  religion, 
and  no  state  was  either  too  great  or  too  little  to  feel 
directly  or  indirectly  more  or  less  of  its  influence. 

Against  the  reformed  doctrine  and  its  adherents,  the 
House  of  Austria  directed,  almost  exclusively,  the  whole 
of  its  immense  political  power.  In  France,  the  Refor- 
mation had  enkindled  a  civil  war,  which,  under  four 
stormy  reigns,  shook  the  kingdom  to  its  foundation, 
Drought  foreign  armies  into  the  heart  of  the  country, 
and  for  half  a  century  rendered  it  the  scene  of  the  most 
mournful  disorders.  It  was  the  Reformation,  too,  that 
rendered  the  Spanish  yoko  intolerable  to  the  Flemings, 
and  awakened  in  them  both  the  desire  and  the  courage 
to  throw  off  its  fetters,  while  it  also  principally  furnished 
them  with  the  means  of  their  emancipation.  And  as 
to  England,  all  the  evils  with  which  Philip  II.  threatened 
Elizabeth,  were  mainly  intended  in  revenge  for  her 
having  taken  his  Protestant  subjects  under  her  protec- 
tion, and  placing  herself  at  the  head  of  a  religious  party 
which  it  was  his  aim  and  endeavor  to  extirpate.  In 
Germany,  the  schisms  in  the  Church  produced  also  a 
lasting  political  schism,  which  made  that  country,  for 
1  A 


2 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


more  than  a  century,  the  theater  of  confusion,  but  at 
the  same  time  threw  up  a  firm  barrier  against  political 
oppression.  It  was,  too,  the  Reformation  principally, 
that  first  drew  the  northern  powers  of  Denmark  and 
Sweden  into  the  political  system  of  Europe  :  and  while 
on  the  one  hand  the  Protestant  League  was  strength- 
ened by  their  adhesion,  it  on  the  other  was  indispensa- 
ble to  their  interest.  States,  which  hitherto  scarcely 
concerned  themselves  with  one  another's  existence, 
acquired  through  the  Reformation  an  attractive  center 
of  interest,  and  began  to  be  united  by  new  political 
sympathies.  And  as  through  its  influence  new  rela- 
tions sprang  up  between  citizen  and  citizen,  and  between 
rulers  and  subjects,  so  also  entire  states  were  forced 
by  it  into  new  and  relative  positions.  Thus,  by  a 
strange  course  of  events,  religious  disputes  were  the 
means  of  cementing  a  closer  union  among  the  nations 
of  Europe. 

Fearful  indeed,  and  destructive  was  the  first  move- 
ment in  which  this  general  political  sympathy  announced 
itself ;  a  desolating  war  of  thirty  years,  which,  from  the 
interior  of  Bohemia  to  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  and 
from  the  banks  of  the  Po  to  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic, 
devastated  whole  countries,  destroyed  harvests,  and  re- 
duced towns  and  villages  to  ashas  ;  which  opened  a 
grave  for  many  thousand  combatants,  and  for  half  a 
century  smothered  the  glimmering  sparks  of  civilization 
in  Germany,  and  threw  back  the  improving  manners  of 
the  country  into  their  pristine  barbarity  and  wildness. 
Yet  out  of  this  fearful  war  Europe  came  forth  free  and 
independent.  In  it  she  first  learned  to  recognize  her- 
self as  a  community  of  nations  ;  and  this  intercommunion 
of  states,  which  originated  in  the  thirty  years'  war, 
would  alone  be  sufficient  to  reconcile  the  philosopher  to 
its  horrors.  The  hand  of  industry  has  slowly,  but  grad- 
ually effaced  the  traces  of  its  ravages,  while  its  benefi- 
cent influence  still  survives  ;  and  this  general  sympathy 
among  the  states  of  Europe,  which  grew  out  of  the 
troubles  in  Bohemia,  is  our  guarantee  for  the  continuance 
of  that  peace  which  was  the  result  of  the  war.  As  the 
flames  of  destruction  found  their  way  from  the  interior 
of  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Austria,  to  kindle  Germany, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


3 


France,  and  the  half  of  Europe,  so  also  will  the  torch  of 
civilization  make  a  path  for  itself  from  the  latter,  to  en- 
lighten the  former  countries. 

All  this  was  effected  by  religion.  Religion  alone  could 
have  rendered  possible  all  that  was  accomplished,  but  it 
was  far  from  being  the  sole  motive  of  the  war.  Had  not 
private  advantages  and  state  interests  been  closely  con- 
nected with  it,  vain  and  powerless  would  have  been  the 
arguments  of  theologians ;  and  the  cry  of  the  people  would 
never  have  met  with  princes  so  willing  to  espouse  their 
cause,  nor  the  new  doctrines  have  found  such  numerous, 
brave,  and  persevering  champions.  The  Reformation  is 
undoubtedly  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the  invincible 
power  of  truth,  or  of  opinions  which  were  held  as  such. 
The  abuses  in  the  old  Church,  the  absurdity  of  many  of 
its  dogmas,  the  extravagance  of  its  requisitions,  necessa- 
rily revolted  the  tempers  of  men,  already  won  with  the 
promise  of  a  better  light,  and  favorably  disposed  them 
toward  the  new  doctrines.  The  charm  of  independence, 
the  rich  plunder  of  monastic  institutions,  made  the  Ref- 
ormation attractive  in  the  eyes  of  princes,  and  tended 
not  a  little  to  strengthen  their  inward  convictions.  Noth- 
ing, however,  but  political  considerations  could  have 
driven  them  to  espouse  it.  Had  not  Charles  V.,  in  the 
intoxication  of  success,  made  an  attempt  on  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  German  states,  a  Protestant  league 
would  scarcely  have  rushed  to  arms  in  defence  of  free- 
dom of  belief :  but  for  the  ambition  of  the  Guises,  the  Cal- 
vanists  in  France  would  never  have  beheld  a  Conde  or  a 
Coligny  at  their  head.  Without  the  exaction  of  the  tenth 
and  the  twentieth  penny,  the  see  of  Rome  had  never 
lost  the  United  Netherlands.  Princes  fought  in  self- 
defense  or  for  aggrandizement,  while  religious  enthusi- 
asm recruited  their  armies,  and  opened  to  them  the 
treasures  of  their  subjects.  Of  the  multitude  who 
flocked  to  their  standards,  such  as  were  not  lured  by  the 
hope  of  plunder  imagined  they  were  fighting  for  the 
truth,  while  in  fact  they  were  shedding  their  blood  for 
the  personal  objects  of  their  princes. 

And  well  was  it  for  the  people  that,  on  this  occasion, 
their  interests  coincided  with  those  of  their  princes.  To 
this  coincidence  alone  were  they  indebted  to  their  deliver- 


4  schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


ance  from  popery.  Well  was  it  also  for  the  rulers,  that 
the  subject  contended  too  for  his  own  cause,  while  he 
was  fighting  their  battles.  Fortunately  at  this  date  no 
European  sovereign  was  so  absolute  as  to  be  able,  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  political  designs,  to  dispense  with  the 
good-will  of  his  subjects.  Yet  how  difficult  was  it  to 
gain  and  to  set  to  work  this  good-will !  The  most  im- 
pressive arguments  drawn  from  reasons  of  state  fall 
powerless  on  the  ear  of  the  subject,  who  seldom  under- 
stands, and  still  more  rarely  is  interested  in  them.  In 
such  circumstances,  the  only  course  open  to  a  prudent 
prince  is  to  connect  the  interests  of  the  cabinet  with 
some  one  that  sits  nearer  to  the  people's  heart,  if  such 
exists,  or  if  not,  to  create  it. 

In  such  a  position  stood  the  greater  part  of  those 
princes  who  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Reformation. 
By  a  strange  concatenation  of  events,  the  divisions  of 
the  Church  were  associated  with  two  circumstances, 
without  which,  in  all  probability,  they  would  have  had  a 
very  different  conclusion.  These  were,  the  increasing 
power  of  the  House  of  Austria,  which  threatened  the 
liberties  of  Europe,  and  its  active  zeal  for  the  old  reli- 
gion. The  first  aroused  the  princes,  while  the  second 
armed  the  people. 

The  abolition  of  a  foreign  jurisdiction  within  their  own 
territories,  the  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  the 
stopping  of  the  treasure  which  had  so  long  flowed  to 
Rome,  the  rich  plunder  of  religious  foundations,  were 
tempting  advantages  to  every  sovereign.  Why,  then,  it 
may  be  asked,  did  they  not  operate  with  equal  force 
upon  the  princes  of  the  House  of  Austria  ?  What  pre- 
vented this  house,  particularly  in  its  German  branch, 
from  yielding  to  the  pressing  demands  of  so  many  of  its 
subjects,  and,  after  the  example  of  other  princes,  en- 
riching itself  at  the  expense  of  a  defenceless  clergy  ?  It 
is  difficult  to  credit  that  a  belief  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
Romish  church  had  any  greater  influence  on  the  pious 
adherence  of  this  house,  than  the  opposite  conviction  had 
on  the  revolt  of  the  Protestant  princes.  In  fact,  several 
circumstances  combined  to  make  the  Austrian  princes 
zealous  supporters  of  popery.  Spain  and  Italy,  from 
which  Austria  derived  its  principal  strength,  were  still 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  5 

devoted  to  the  see  of  Rome  with  that  blind  obedience 
which,  ever  since  the  days  of  the  Gothic  dynasty,  had 
been  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  Spaniard.  The 
slightest  approximation,  in  a  Spanish  prince,  to  the  ob- 
noxious tenets  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  would  have  alienated 
forever  the  affections  of  his  subjects,  and  a  defection 
from  the  Pope  would  have  cost  him  the  kingdom.  A 
Spanish  prince  had  no  alternative  but  orthodoxy  or 
abdication.  The  same  restraint  was  imposed  upon 
Austria  by  her  Italian  dominions,  which  she  was  obliged 
to  treat,  if  possible,  with  even  greater  indulgence ;  im- 
patient as  they  naturally  were  of  a  foreign  yoke,  and 
possessing  also  readier  means  of  shaking  it  off.  In 
regard  to  the  latter  provinces,  moreover,  the  rival  pre- 
tensions of  France,  and  the  neighborhood  of  the  Pope, 
were  motives  sufficient  to  prevent  the  emperor  from  de- 
claring in  favor  of  a  party  which  strove  to  annihilate  the 
papal  see,  and  also  to  induce  him  to  show  the  most  active 
zeal  in  behalf  of  the  old  religion.  These  general  con- 
siderations, which  must  have  been  equally  weighty  with 
every  Spanish  monarch,  were,  in  the  particular  case  of 
Charles  V.,  still  further  enforced  by  peculiar  and  per- 
sonal motives.  In  Italy  this  monarch  had  a  formidable 
rival  in  the  King  of  France,  under  whose  protection  that 
country  might  throw  itself  the  instant  that  Charles 
should  incur  the  slightest  suspicion  of  heresy.  Distrust 
on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  a  rupture  with 
the  Church,  would  have  been  fatal  also  to  many  of  his  most 
cherished  designs.  Moreover,  when  Charles  was  first 
called  upon  to  make  his  election  between  the  two  par- 
ties, the  new  doctrine  had  not  yet  attained  to  a  full  and 
commanding  influence,  and  there  still  subsisted  a  pros- 
pect of  its  reconciliation  with  the  old.  In  his  son  and 
successor,  Philip  II.,  a  monastic  education  combined 
with  a  gloomy  and  despotic  disposition  to  generate  an 
unmitigated  hostility  to  all  innovations  in  religion  ;  a 
feeling  which  the  thought  that  his  most  formidable 
political  opponents  were  also  the  enemies  of  his  faith  was 
not  calculated  to  weaken.  As  his  European  possessions, 
scattered  as  they  were  over  so  many  countries,  were  on 
all  sides  exposed  to  the  seductions  of  foreign  opinions,  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  in  other  quarters  could  not 
a  2 


6  SCHILLER  S   THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


well  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him.  His  immediate 
interests,  therefore,  urged  him  to  attach  himself  devot- 
edly to  the  old  Church,  in  order  to  close  up  the  sources 
of  the  heretical  contagion.  Thus,  circumstances  natu- 
rally placed  this  prince  at  the  head  of  the  league  which 
the  Roman  Catholics  formed  against  the  Reformers. 
The  principles  which  had  actuated  the  long  and  active 
reigns  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  remained  a  law  for 
their  successors  ;  and  the  more  the  breach  in  the  Church 
widened,  the  firmer  became  the  attachment  of  the  Span- 
iards to  Roman  Catholicism. 

The  German  line  of  the  House  of  Austria  was  appa- 
rently more  unfettered  ;  bat,  in  reality,  though  free  from 
many  of  these  restraints,  it  was  yet  confined  by  others. 
The  possession  of  the  imperial  throne — a  dignity  it  was 
impossible  for  a  Protestant  to  hold,  (for  with  what  con 
sistency  could  an  apostate  from  the  Romish  church  wear 
the  crown  of  a  Roman  emperor  ?)  bound  the  successors 
of  Ferdinand  I.  to  the  see  of  Rome.  Ferdinand  him- 
self was,  from  conscientious  motives,  heartily  attached 
to  it.  Beside,  the  German  princes  of  the  House  of 
Austria  were  not  powerful  enough  to  dispense  with  the 
support  of  Spain,  which,  however,  they  would  have  for- 
feited by  the  least  show  of  leaning  toward  the  new 
doctrines.  The  imperial  dignity,  also,  required  them  to 
preserve  the  existing  political  system  of  Germany,  with 
which  the  maintenance  of  their  own  authority  was 
closely  bound  up,  but  which  it  was  the  aim  of  the  Prot- 
estant League  to  destroy.  If  to  these  grounds  we  add 
the  indifference  of  the  Protestants  to  the  emperor's 
necessities  and  to  the  common  dangers  of  the  empire, 
their  encroachments  on  the  temporalities  of  the  Church, 
and  their  aggressive  violence  when  they  became  con- 
scious of  their  own  power,  we  can  easily  conceive  how 
so  many  concurring  motives  must  have  determined  the 
emperors  to  the  side  of  popery,  and  how  their  own  in- 
terests came  to  be  intimately  interwoven  with  those  of 
the  Roman  church.  As  its  fate  seemed  to  depend  alto- 
gether on  the  part  taken  by  Austria,  the  princes  of  this 
house  came  to  be  regarded  by  all  Europe  as  the  pillars 
of  popery.  The  hatred,  therefore,  which  the  Protes- 
tants bore  against  the  latter,  was  turned  exclusively  upon 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


7 


Austria;  and  the  cause  became  gradually  confounded 
with  its  protector. 

But  this  irreconcilable  enemy  of  the  Reformation  — 
the  House  of  Austria — by  its  ambitious  projects  and  the 
overwhelming  force  which  it  could  bring  to  their  support, 
endangered,  in  no  small  degree,  the  freedom  of  Europe, 
and  more  especially  of  the  German  states.  This  cir- 
cumstance could  not  fail  to  rouse  the  latter  from  their 
security,  and  to  render  them  vigilant  in  self-defense. 
Their  ordinary  resources  were  quite  insufficient  to  re- 
sist so  formidable  a  power.  Extraordinary  exertions 
were  required  from  their  subjects ;  and  when  even  these 
proved  far  from  adequate,  they  had  recourse  to  foreign 
assistance  ;  and,  by  means  of  a  common  league,  they 
endeavored  to  oppose  a  power  which,  singly,  they  were 
unable  to  withstand. 

But  the  strong  political  inducements  which  the  Ger- 
man princes  had  to  resist  the  pretensions  of  the  House 
of  Austria,  naturally  did  not  extend  to  their  subjects, 
[t  is  only  immediate  advantages  or  immediate  evils  that 
set  the  people  in  action,  and  for  these  a  sound  pol- 
icy cannot  wait.  Ill,  then,  would  it  have  fared  with 
these  princes,  if  by  good  fortune  another  effectual  mo- 
tive had  not  offered  itself,  which  roused  the  passions  of 
the  people,  and  kindled  in  them  an  enthusiasm  which 
might  be  directed  against  the  political  danger,  as  having 
with  it  a  common  cause  of  alarm. 

This  motive  was  their  avowed  hatred  of  the  religion 
which  Austria  protected,  and  their  enthusiastic  attach- 
ment to  a  doctrine  which  that  house  was  endeavoring 
to  extirpate  by  fire  and  sword.  Their  attachment  was 
ardent,  their  hatred  invincible.  Religious  fanaticism 
anticipates  even  the  remotest  dangers.  Enthusiasm 
never  calculates  its  sacrifices.  What  the  most  pressing 
danger  of  the  state  could  not  effect  with  the  citizens, 
was  effected  by  religious  zeal.  For  the  state,  or  for  the 
prince,  few  would  have  drawn  the  sword ;  but  for  reli- 
gion, the  merchant,  the  artist,  the  peasant,  all  cheerfully 
flew  to  arms.  For  the  state,  or  for  the  prince,  even 
the  smallest  additional  impost  would  have  been  avoided  ; 
but  for  religion,  the  people  readily  staked  at  once  life, 
fortune,  and  all  earthly  hopes.    It  trebled  the  contribu- 


8 


SCHILL  Elt'ti   TUillTV    iEAhd'  WAR. 


tions  which  flowed  into  the  exchequer  of  the  princes, 
and  the  armies  which  marched  to  the  field  ;  and,  in  the 
ardent  excitement  produced  in  all  minds  by  the  peril  to 
which  their  faith  was  exposed,  the  subject  felt  not  the 
pressure  of  those  burdens  and  privations  under  which, 
in  cooler  moments,  he  would  have  sunk  exhausted. 
The  terrors  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  the  massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew's,  procured  for  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  the  Admiral  Coligny,  the  British  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  supplies 
of  men  and  money  from  their  subjects,  to  a  degree 
which  at  present  is  inconceivable. 

But,  with  all  their  exertions,  they  would  have  effect- 
ed little  against  a  power  which  was  an  overmatch  for 
any  single  adversary,  however  powerful.  At  this  peri- 
od of  imperfect  policy,  accidental  circumstances  alone 
could  determine  distant  states  to  afford  one  another  a 
mutual  support.  The  differences  of  government,  of 
laws,  of  language,  of  manners,  and  of  character,  which 
hitherto  had  kept  whole  nations  and  countries  as  it 
were  insulated,  and  raised  a  lasting  barrier  between 
them,  rendered  one  state  insensible  to  the  distresses  of 
another,  save  where  national  jealousy  could  indulge  a  ma- 
licious joy  at  the  reverses  of  a  rival.  This  barrier  the 
Reformation  destroyed.  An  interest  more  intense  and 
more  immediate  than  national  aggrandizement  or  patri- 
otism, and  entirely  independent  of  private  utility,  began 
to  animate  whole  states  and  individual  citizens ;  an  in- 
terest capable  of  uniting  numerous  and  distant  nations, 
even  while  it  frequently  lost  its  force  among  the  subjects 
of  the  same  government.  With  the  inhabitants  of  Ge- 
neva, for  instance,  of  England,  of  Germany,  or  of  Hol- 
land, the  French  Calvinist  possessed  a  common  point 
of  union  which  he  had  not  with  his  own  countrymen. 
Thus,  in  one  important  particular,  he  ceased  to  be  the 
citizen  of  a  single  state,  and  to  confine  his  views  and 
sympathies  to  his  own  country  alone.  The  sphere  of 
his  views  became  enlarged.  He  began  to  calculate  his 
own  fate  from  that  of  other  nations  of  the  same  religious 
profession,  and  to  make  their  cause  his  own.  Now  for 
the  first  time  did  princes  venture  to  bring  the  affairs  of 
other  countries  before  their  own  councils ;  for  the  first 


SCHILLElt'a  THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


9 


time  could  they  hope  for  a  willing  ear  to  their  own  ne- 
cessities, and  prompt  assistance  from  others.  Foreign 
affairs  had  now  become  a  matter  of  domestic  policy,  and 
that  aid  was  readily  granted  to  the  religious  confederate 
which  would  have  been  denied-  to  the  mere  neighbor, 
and  still  more  to  the  distant  stranger.  The  inhabitant 
of  the  Palatinate  leaves  his  native  fields  to  fight  side  by 
side  with  his  religious  associate  of  France,  against  the 
common  enemy  of  their  faith.  The  Huguenot  draws 
his  sword  against  the  country  which  persecutes  him, 
and  sheds  his  blood  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  Hol- 
land. Swiss  is  arrayed  against  Swiss  ;  German  against 
German,  to  determine,  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire  and 
the  Seine,  the  succession  of  the  French  crown.  The 
Dane  crosses  the  Eider,  and  the  Swede  the  Baltic,  to 
break  the  chains  which  are  forged  for  Germany. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  would  have  been  the  fate  of 
the  Reformation  and  the  liberties  of  the  empire,  had 
not  the  formidable  power  of  Austria  declared  against 
them.  This,  however,  appears  certain,  that  nothing  so 
completely  damped  the  Austrian  hopes  of  universal 
monarchy,  as  the  obstinate  war  which  they  had  to  wage 
against  the  new  religious  opinions.  Under  no  other  cir- 
cumstances could  the  weaker  princes  have  roused  their 
subjects  to  such  extraordinary  exertions  against  the  am- 
bition of  Austria,  or  the  states  themselves  have  united 
so  closely  against  the  common  enemy. 

The  power  of  Austria  never  stood  higher  than  after 
the  victory  which  Charles  V.  gained  over  the  Germans 
at  Mühlberg.  With  the  treaty  of  Smalcalde  the  free- 
dom of  Germany  lay,  as  it  seemed,  prostrate  forever; 
but  it  revived  under  Maurice  of  Saxony,  once  its  most 
formidable  enemy.  All  the  fruits  of  the  victory  of 
Mühlberg  were  lost  again  in  the  Congress  of  Passau 
and  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  and  every  scheme  for  civil 
and  religious  oppression  terminated  in  the  concessions 
of  an  equitable  peace. 

The  Diet  of  Augsburg  divided  Germany  into  two  re- 
ligious and  two  political  parties,  by  recognizing  the  in- 
dependent rights  and  existence  of  both.  Hitherto  the 
Protestants  had  been  looked  on  as  rebels  ;  they  were 
henceforth  to  be  regarded  as  brethren — not,  indeed, 


10 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


through  affection,  but  necessity.  By  the  Interim,*  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg  was  allowed  temporarily  to  take 
a  sisterly  place  along  side  of  the  olden  religion,  though 
only  as  a  tolerated  neighbor.  To  every  secular  state 
was  conceded  the  right  of  establishing  the  religion  it 
acknowledged  as  supreme  and  exclusive  within  its  own 
territories,  and  of  forbidding  the  open  profession  of  its 
rival.  Subjects  were  to  be  free  to  quit  a  country  where 
their  own  religion  was  not  tolerated.  The  doctrines  of 
Luther  for  the  first  time  received  a  positive  sanction ; 
and  if  they  were  trampled  under  foot  in  Bavaria  and 
Austria,  they  predominated  in  Saxony  and  Thuringia. 
But  the  sovereigns  alone  were  to  determine  what  form 
of  religion  should  prevail  within  their  territories ;  the 
feelings  of  subjects,  who  had  no  representatives  in  the 
Diet,  were  little  attended  to  in  the  pacification.  In  the 
ecclesiastical  territories,  indeed,  where  the  unreformed 
religion  enjoyed  an  undisputed  supremacy,  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion  was  obtained  for  all  who  had  pre- 
viously embraced  the  Protestant  doctrine  ;  but  this  in- 
dulgence rested  only  on  the  personal  guarantee  of  Fer- 
dinand, King  of  the  Romans,  by  whose  endeavors  chiefly 
this  peace  was  effected ;  a  guarantee  which,  being  re- 
jected by  the  Roman  Catholic  members  of  the  Diet,  and 
only  inserted  in  the  treaty  under  their  protest,  could 
not,  of  course,  have  the  force  of  law. 

If  it  had  been  opinions  only  that  thus  divided  the 
minds  of  men,  with  what  indifference  would  all  have 
regarded  the  division  !  But  on  these  opinions  depended 
riches,  dignities,  and  rights ;  and  it  was  this  which  so 
deeply  aggravated  the  evils  of  division.  Of  two  broth- 
ers, as  it  were,  who  had  hitherto  enjoyed  a  paternal  in- 
heritance in  common,  one  now  remained,  while  the 
other  was  compelled  to  leave  his  father's  house,  and 
hence  arose  the  necessity  of  dividing  the  patrimony. 
For  this  separation,  which  he  could  not  have  foreseen, 
the  father  had  made  no  provision.  By  the  beneficent 
donations  of  pious  ancestors  the  riches  of  the  Church 

*  A  system  of  theology  so  called,  prepared  by  order  of  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V.  for  the  use  of  Germany,  to  reconcile  the  differ- 
ences between  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Lutherans,  which, 
however,  was  rejected  by  both  parties. — Ed. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


11 


had  been  accumulating  through  a  thousand  years,  and 
these  benefactors  were  as  much  the  progenitors  of  the 
departing  brother  as  of  him  who  remained.  Was  the 
right  of  inheritance  then  to  be  limited  to  the  paternal 
house,  or  to  be  extended  to  blood  ?  The  gifts  had  been 
made  to  the  church  in  communion  with  Rome,  because 
at  that  time  no  other  existed — to  the  first-born,  as  it 
were,  because  he  was  as  yet  the  only  son.  Was  then 
a  right  of  primogeniture  to  be  admitted  in  the  Church 
as  in  noble  families  ?  Were  the  pretensions  of  one 
party  to  be  favored  by  a  prescription  from  times  when 
the  claims  of  the  other  could  not  have  come  into  exist- 
ence ?  Could  the  Lutherans  be  justly  excluded  from 
these  possessions,  to  which  the  benevolence  of  their 
forefathers  had  contributed,  merely  on  the  ground  that, 
at  the  date  of  their  foundation,  the  differences  between 
Lutheran  ism  and  Romanism  were  unknown  ?  Both 
parties  have  disputed,  and  still  dispute,  with  equal  plaus- 
ibility, on  these  points.  Both  alike  have  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  prove  their  right.  Law  can  be  applied  only  to 
conceivable  cases,  and  perhaps  spiritual  foundations  are 
not  among  the  number  of  these,  and  still  less  where  the 
conditions  of  the  founders  generally  extended  to  a  sys- 
tem of  doctrines ;  for  how  is  it  conceivable  that  a  perma- 
nent endowment  should  be  made  of  opinions  left  open 
to  change  ? 

What  law  cannot  decide,  is  usually  determined  by 
might,  and  such  was  the  case  here.  The  one  party 
held  firmly  all  that  could  no  longer  be  wrested  from  it, 
the  other  defended  what  it  still  possessed.  All  the 
bishoprics  and  abbeys  which  had  been  secularized  before 
the  peace,  remained  with  the  Protestants ;  but,  by  an 
express  clause,  the  unreformed  Catholics  provided  that 
none  should  thereafter  be  secularized.  Every  impro- 
priator of  an  ecclesiastical  foundation,  who  held  imme- 
diately of  the  empire,  whether  elector,  bishop,  or  ab- 
bot, forfeited  his  benefice  and  dignity  the  moment  he 
embraced  the  Protestant  belief ;  he  was  obliged,  in  that 
event,  instantly  to  resign  its  emoluments,  and  the  chap- 
ter was  to  proceed  to  a  new  election,  exactly  as  if  his 
place  had  been  vacated  by  death.  By  this  sacred  an- 
chor of  the  Ecclesiastical  Reservation  (Reservatum  Ec- 


IS        Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

clesiasticwn),  which  makes  the  temporal  existence  of  a 
spiritual  prince  entirely  dependent  on  his  fidelity  to  the 
olden  religion,  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  Germany 
is  still  held  fast ;  and  precarious,  indeed,  would  be  its 
situation  were  this  anchor  to  give  way  The  principle 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Reservation  was  strongly  opposed 
by  the  Protestants ;  and  though  it  was  at  last  adopted 
into  the  treaty  of  peace,  its  insertion  was  qualified  with 
the  declaration  that  parties  had  come  to  no  final  determ- 
ination on  the  point.  Could  it,  then,  be  more  binding 
on  the  Protestants  than  Ferdinand's  guarantee  in  favor 
of  Protestant  subjects  of  ecclesiastical  states  was  upon 
the  Roman  Catholics  ?  Thus  were  two  important  sub- 
jects of  dispute  left  unsettled  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  and 
by  them  the  war  was  rekindled. 

Such  was  the  position  of  things  with  regard  to  reli- 
gious toleration  and  ecclesiastical  property ;  it  was  the 
same  with  regard  to  rights  and  dignities.  The  existing 
German  system  provided  only  for  one  church,  because 
one  only  was  in  existence  when  that  system  was  framed. 
The  Church  had  now  divided  ;  the  Diet  had  broken  into 
two  religious  parties  ;  was  the  whole  system  of  the  em- 
pire still  exclusively  to  follow  the  one  ?  The  emperors 
had  hitherto  been  members  of  the  Romish  church,  be- 
cause till  now  that  religion  had  no  rival.  But  was  it  his 
connection  with  Rome  which  constituted  a  German  em- 
peror, or  was  it  not  rather  Germany  which  was  to  be 
represented  in  its  head  ?  The  Protestants  were  now 
spread  over  the  whole  empire,  and  how  justly  could 
they  still  be  represented  by  an  unbroken  line  of  Roman 
Catholic  emperors  ?  In  the  imperial  chamber  the  Ger- 
man states  judge  themselve%,  for  they  elect  the  judges ; 
it  was  the  very  end  of  its  institution  that  they  should 
do  so,  in  order  that  equal  justice  should  be  dispensed 
to  all ;  but  would  this  be  still  possible,  if  the  representa- 
tives of  both  professions  were  not  equally  admissible  u> 
a  seat  in  the  Chamber  ?  That  one  religion  only  existed 
in  Germany  at  the  time  of  its  establishment,  was  acci- 
dental ;  that  no  one  estate  should  have  the  means  of 
legally  oppressing  another,  was  the  essential  purpose  of 
the  institution.  Now  this  object  would  be  entirely  frus- 
trated if  one  religious  party  were  to  have  the  exclusive 


bchiller's  thirty  years'  war.  13 


power  of  deciding  for  the  other.  Must,  then,  the  de- 
sign be  sacrificed,  because  that  which  was  merely  acci- 
dental had  changed  ?  With  great  difficulty  the  Prot- 
estants at  last  obtained  for  the  representatives  of  their 
religion  a  place  in  the  Supreme  Council,  but  still  there 
was  far  from  being  a  perfect  equality  of  voices.  To 
this  day  no  Protestant  prince  has  been  raised  to  the  im- 
perial throne. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  equality  which  the 
peace  of  Augsburg  was  to  have  established  between  the 
two  German  churches,  the  Roman  Catholic  had  unques- 
tionably still  the  advantage.  All  that  the  Lutheran 
church  gained  by  it  was  toleration ;  all  that  the  Romish 
church  conceded  was  a  sacrifice  to  necessity,  not  an 
offering  to  justice.  Very  far  was  it  from  being  a  peace 
between  two  equal  powers,  but  a  truce  between  a  sov- 
ereign and  unconquered  rebels.  From  this  principle 
all  the  proceedings  of  the  Roman  Catholics  against  the 
Protestants  seemed  to  flow,  and  still  continue  to  do  so. 
To  join  the  reformed  faith  was  still  a  crime,  since  it  was 
to  be  visited  with  so  severe  a  penalty  as  that  which 
the  Ecclesiastical  Reservation  held  suspended  over  the 
apostacy  of  the  spiritual  princes.  Even  to  the  last,  the 
Romish  church  preferred  to  risk  the  loss  of  every  thing 
by  force,  than  voluntarily  to  yield  the  smallest  matter  to 
justice.  The  loss  was  accidental  and  might  be  repair- 
ed ;  but  the  abandonment  of  its  pretensions,  the  conces- 
sion of  a  single  point  to  the  Protestants,  would  shake 
the  foundations  of  the  Church  itself.  Even  in  the  treaty 
of  peace  this  principle  was  not  lost  sight  of.  What- 
ever in  this  peace  was  yielded  to  the  Protestants,  was 
always  under  condition.  It  was  expressly  declared  that 
affairs  were  to  remain  on  the  stipulated  footing  only  till 
the  next  General  Council,  which  was  to  be  called  with 
the  view  of  effecting  a  union  between  the  two  confes- 
sions. Then,  only,  when  this  last  attempt  should  have 
failed,  was  the  religious  treaty  to  become  valid  and  con- 
clusive. However  little  hope  there  might  be  of  such  a 
reconciliation,  however  little  perhaps  the  Romanists 
themselves  were  in  earnest  with  it,  still  it  was  some- 
thing to  have  clogged  the  peace  with  these  stipulations. 

Thus  this  religious  treaty,  which  was  to  extinguish 
B 


14        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


forever  the  flames  of  civil  war,  was,  in  fact,  but  a  tem- 
porary truce,  extorted  by  force  and  necessity  ;  not  dic- 
tated by  justice,  nor  emanating  from  just  notions  either 
of  religion  or  toleration.  A  religious  treaty  of  this  kind 
the  Roman  Catholics  were  as  incapable  of  granting,  to 
be  candid,  as,  in  truth,  the  Lutherans  were  unqualified 
to  receive.  Far  from  evincing  a  tolerant  spirit  toward 
the  Roman  Catholics,  when  it  was  in  their  power,  they 
even  oppressed  the  Calvanists  :  who  indeed  just  as  little 
deserved  toleration,  since  they  were  unwilling  to  prac- 
tice it.  For  such  a  peace  the  times  were  not  yet  ripe 
— the  minds  of  men  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened. 
How  could  one  party  expect  from  another  what  itself 
was  incapable  of  performing?  What  each  side  saved 
or  gained  by  the  treaty  of  Augsburg,  it  owed  to  the  im- 
posing attitude  of  strength  which  it  maintained  at  the 
time  of  its  negotiation.  What  was  won  by  force  was 
to  be  maintained  also  by  force  ;  if  the  peace  was  to  be  per- 
manent, the  two  parties  to  it  must  preserve  the  same 
relative  positions.  The  boundaries  of  the  two  churches 
had  been  marked  out  with  the  sword ;  with  the  sword 
they  must  be  preserved,  or  woe  to  that  party  which  should 
be  first  disarmed !  A  sad  and  fearful  prospect  for  the 
tranquillity  of  Germany,  when  peace  itself  bore  so 
threatening  an  aspect. 

A  momentary  lull  now  pervaded  the  empire  ;  a  tran- 
sitory bond  of  concord  appeared  to  unite  its  scattered 
limbs  into  one  body,  so  that  for  a  time  a  feeling  also  for 
the  common  weal  returned.  But  the  division  had  pen- 
etrated its  inmost  being,  and  to  restore  its  original  har- 
mony was  impossible.  Carefully  as  the  treaty  of  peace 
appeared  to  have  defined  the  rights  of  both  parties,  its 
interpretation  was  nevertheless  the  subject  of  many  dis- 
putes. In  the  heat  of  conflict  it  had  produced  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities  ;  it  covered,  not  extinguished  the  fire, 
and  unsatisfied  claims  remained  on  either  side.  The 
Romanists  imagined  they  had  lost  too  much,  the  Prot- 
estants that  they  had  gained  too  little ;  and  the  treaty, 
which  neither  party  could  venture  to  violate,  was  inter- 
preted by  each  in  its  own  favor. 

The  seizure  of  the  ecclesiastical  benefices,  the  motive 
which  had  so  strongly  tempted  the  majority  of  the  Prot- 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  15 


estant  princes  to  embrace  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  was 
not  less  powerful  after  than  before  the  peace  ;  of  those 
whose  founders  did  not  hold  their  fiefs  immediately  of 
the  empire,  such  as  were  not  already  in  their  posses- 
sion would  it  was  evident  soon  be  so.  The  whole  of 
Lower  Germany  was  already  secularized;  and  if  it 
were  otherwise  in  Upper  Germany,  it  was  owing  to  the 
vehement  resistance  of  the  Catholics,  who  had  there  the 
preponderance.  Each  party,  where  it  was  the  most 
powerful,  oppressed  the  adherents  of  the  other ;  the 
ecclesiastical  princes  in  particular,  as  the  most  defence- 
less members  of  the  empire,  were  incessantly  torment- 
ed by  the  ambition  of  their  Protestant  neighbors. 
Those  who  were  too  weak  to  repel  force  by  force,  took 
refuge  under  the  wings  of  justice  ;  and  the  complaints 
of  spoliation  were  heaped  up  against  the  Protestants  in 
the  Imperial  Chamber,  which  was  ready  enough  to  pur- 
sue the  accused  with  judgments,  but  found  too  little  sup- 
port to  carry  them  into  effect.  The  peace  which  stip- 
ulated for  complete  religious  toleration  to  the  dignitaries 
of  the  empire,  had  provided  also  for  the  subject,  by  en- 
abling him  without  interruption,  to  leave  the  country  in 
which  the  exercise  of  his  religion  was  prohibited.  But 
from  the  wrongs  which  the  violence  of  a  sovereign  might 
inflict  on  an  obnoxious  subject ;  from  the  nameless  op- 
pressions by  which  he  might  harass  and  annoy  the  em- 
igrant ;  from  the  artful  snares  in  which  subtilty  com- 
bined with  power  might  enmesh  him — from  these,  the 
dead  letter  of  the  treaty  could  afford  him  no  protection. 
The  Catholic  subject  of  Protestant  princes  complained 
loudly  of  violations  of  the  religious  peace — the  Luther- 
ans still  more  loudly  of  the  oppression  they  experienced 
under  their  Romanist  suzerains.  The  rancor  and  ani- 
mosities of  theologians  infused  a  poison  into  every  occur- 
rence, however  inconsiderable,  and  inflamed  the  minds 
of  the  people.  Happy  would  it  have  been  had  this 
theological  hatred  exhausted  its  zeal  upon  the  common 
enemy,  instead  of  venting  its  virus  on  the  adherents  of 
a  kindred  faith ! 

Unanimity  among  the  Protestants  might,  by  preserv- 
ing the  balance  between  the  contending  parties,  have 
prolonged  the  peace  ;  but  as  if  to  complete  the  confu- 


16        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


sion,  all  concord  was  quickly  broken.  The  doctrines 
which  had  been  propagated  by  Zuingli  in  Zurich,  and 
by  Calvin  in  Geneva,  soon  spread  to  Germany,  and 
divided  the  Protestants  among  themselves,  with  little 
in  unison  save  their  common  hatred  to  popery.  The 
Protestants  of  this  date  bore  but  slight  resemblance  to 
those  who,  fifty  years  before,  drew  up  the  Confession  of 
Augsburg ;  and  the  cause  of  the  change  is  to  be  sought 
in  that  Confession  itself.  It  had  prescribed  a  positive 
boundaiy  to  the  Protestant  faith,  before  the  newly 
awakened  spirit  of  inquiry  had  satisfied  itself  as  to  the 
limits  it  ought  to  set ;  and  the  Protestants  seemed  un- 
wittingly to  have  thrown  away  much  of  the  advantage 
acquired  by  their  rejection  of  popery.  Common  com- 
plaints of  the  Romish  hierarchy,  and  of  ecclesiastical 
abuses,  and  a  common  disapprobation  of  its  dogmas, 
formed  a  sufficient  center  of  union  for  the  Protestants  ; 
bat  not  content  with  this,  they  sought  a  rallying  point 
in  the  promulgation  of  a  new  and  positive  creed,  in 
which  they  sought  to  embody  the  distinctions,  the  priv- 
ileges, and  the  essence  of  the  Church,  and  to  this  they 
referred  the  convention  entered  into  with  their  oppo- 
nents. It  was  as  professors  of  this  creed  that  they  had 
acceded  to  the  treaty ;  and  in  the  benefits  of  this  peace 
the  advocates  of  the  confessional  one  were  entitled  to 
participate.  In  any  case,  therefore,  the  situation  of  its 
adherents  was  embarrassing.  If  a  blind  obedience  were 
yielded  to  the  dicta  of  the  Confession,  a  lasting  bound 
would  be  set  to  the  spirit  of  inquiry ;  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  dissented  from  the  formula?  agreed  upon, 
the  point  of  union  would  be  lost.  Unfortunately  both 
instances  occurred,  and  the  evil  results  of  both  were 
quickly  felt.  One  party  rigorously  adhered  to  the 
original  symbol  of  faith,  and  the  other  abandoned  it,  only 
to  adopt  another  with  equal  exclusiveness. 

Nothing  could  have  furnished  the  common  enemy  a 
more  plausible  defense  of  his  cause  than  this  dissension  ; 
no  spectacle  could  have  been  more  gratifying  to  him 
than  the  rancor  with  which  the  Protestants  alternately 
persecuted  each  other.  Who  could  condemn  the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  if  they  laughed  at  the  audacity  with 
which  the  Reformers  had  presumed  to  announce  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  iV 

only  true  belief? — if  from  Protestants  they  borrowed 
the  weapons  against  Protestants  ? — if,  in  the  midst  o? 
this  clashing  of  opinions,  they  held  fast  to  the  authority 
of  their  own  Church,  for  which,  in  part,  there  spoke  an 
honorable  antiquity,  and  a  yet  more  honorable  plurality 
of  voices  ?  But  this  division  placed  the  Protestants  in 
still  more  serious  embarrassments.  As  the  covenants  of 
the  treaty  applied  only  to  the  partisans  of  the  Confession, 
their  opponents,  with  some  reason,  called  upon  them  to 
explain  who  were  to  be  recognized  as  the  adherents  of 
that  creed.  The  Lutherans  could  not,  without  offend- 
ing conscience,  include  the  Calvanists  in  their  com- 
munion, nor,  except  at  the  risk  of  converting  a  useful 
friend  into  a  dangerous  enemy,  could  they  exclude  them. 
This  unfortunate  difference  opened  a  way  for  the  mach- 
inations of  the  Jesuits  to  sow  distrust  between  both 
parties,  and  to  destroy  the  unity  of  their  measures.  Fet- 
tered by  the  double  fear  of  their  direct  adversaries,  and 
of  their  opponents  among  themselves,  the  Protestants 
lost  forever  the  opportunity  of  placing  their  Church  on 
a  perfect  equality  with  the  Catholic.  All  these  diffi- 
culties would  have  been  avoided,  and  the  defection  of 
the  Calvanists  would  not  have  prejudiced  the  common 
cause,  if  the  point  of  union  had  been  placed  simply  in 
the  abandonment  of  Romanism,  instead  of  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg. 

But,  howrever  divided  on  other  points,  they  concurred 
in  this — that  the  security  which  had  resulted  from 
equality  of  power  could  only  be  maintained  by  the  pres- 
ervation of  that  balance.  In  the  mean  while,  the  contin- 
ual reforms  of  one  party,  and  the  opposing  measures  of 
the  other,  kept  both  upon  the  watch,  while  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  religious  treaty  was  a  never-ending 
subject  of  dispute.  Each  party  maintained  that  every 
step  taken  by  its  opponent  was  an  infraction  of  the 
peace,  while  of  every  movement  of  its  own  it  was  as- 
serted that  it  was  essential  to  its  maintenance.  Yet  all 
the  measures  of  the  Catholics  did  not,  as  their  oppo- 
nents alledged,  proceed  from  a  spirit  of  encroachment — 
many  of  them  were  the  necessary  precautions  of  self- 
defense.  The  Protestants  had  shown  unequivocally 
enough  what  the  Romanists  might  expect  if  thev  were 
2  B  2 


18 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


unfortunate  enough  to  become  the  weaker  party.  The 
greediness  of  the  former  for  the  property  of  the  Church, 
gave  no  reason  to  expect  indulgence ; — their  bitter  ha- 
tred left  no  hope  of  magnanimity  or  forbearance. 

But  the  Protestants,  likewise,  were  excusable  if  they 
too  placed  little  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  the  Roman 
Catholics.  By  the  treacherous  and  inhuman  treatment 
which  their  brethren  in  Spain,  France,  and  the  Nether- 
lands had  suffered  ;  by  the  disgraceful  subterfuge  of  the 
Romish  princes,  who  held  that  the  Pope  had  power  to 
relieve  them  from  the  obligation  of  the  most  solemn 
oaths  ;  and  above  all,  by  the  detestable  maxim,  that 
faith  was  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics,  the  Roman 
church,  in  the  eyes  of  all  honest  men,  had  lost  its 
honor.  No  engagement,  no  oath,  however  sacred,  from 
a  Roman  Catholic,  could  satisfy  a  Protestant.  What 
security  then  could  the  religious  peace  afford,  when, 
throughout  Germany,  the  Jesuits  represented  it  as  a 
measure  of  mere  temporary  convenience,  and  in  Rome 
itself  it  was  solemnly  repudiated. 

The  General  Council,  to  which  reference  had  been 
made  in  the  treaty,  had  already  been  held  in  the  city  of 
Trent ;  but,  as  might  have  been  foreseen,  without  ac- 
commodating the  religious  differences,  or  taking  a  single 
step  to  effect  such  accommodation,  and  even  without 
being  attended  by  the  Protestants.  The  latter,  indeed, 
were  now  solemnly  excommunicated  by  it  in  the  name 
of  the  Church,  whose  representative  the  Council  gave 
itself  out  to  be.  Could,  then,  a  secular  treaty,  extorted, 
moreover,  by  force  of  arms,  afford  them  adequate  pro- 
tection against  the  ban  of  the  Church  ;  a  treaty,  too, 
based  on  a  condition  which  the  decision  of  the  Council 
seemed  entirely  to  abolish?  There  was  then  a  show  of 
right  for  violating  the  peace,  if  only  the  Romanists  pos- 
sessed the  power ;  and,  henceforward,  the  Protestants 
were  protected  by  nothing  but  the  respect  for  their 
formidable  array. 

Other  circumstances  combined  to  augment  this  dis- 
trust. Spain,  on  whose  support  the  Romanists  in  Ger- 
many chiefly  relied,  was  engaged  in  a  bloody  conflict 
with  the  Flemings.  By  it,  the  flower  of  the  Spanish 
troops  were  drawn  to  the  confines  of  Germany  With 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


19 


what  ease  might  they  be  introduced  within  the  empire, 
if  a  decisive  stroke  should  render  their  presence  neces- 
sary !  Germany  was  at  that  time  a  magazine  of  war 
for  nearly  all  the  powers  of  Europe.  The  religious  war 
had  crowded  it  with  soldiers,  whom  the  peace  left  des- 
titute ;  its  many  independent  princes  found  it  easy  to 
assemble  armies,  and,  afterward,  for  the  sake  of  gain, 
or  the  interests  of  party,  hire  them  out  to  other  powers. 
With  German  troops  Philip  II.  waged  war  against  the 
Netherlands,  and  with  German  troops  they  defended 
themselves.  Every  such  levy  in  Germany  was  a  sub- 
ject of  alarm  to  the  one  party  or  the  other,  since  it 
might  be  intended  for  their  oppression.  The  arrival 
of  an  ambassador,  an  extraordinary  legate  of  the  Pope, 
a  conference  of  princes,  every  unusual  incident,  must, 
it  was  thought,  be  pregnant  with  destruction  to  some 
party.  Thus,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  stood  Germany, 
her  hand  upon  the  sword  ;  every  rustle  of  a  leaf  alarmed 
her. 

Ferdinand  I.,  King  of  Hungary,  and  his  excellent  son, 
Maximilian  II.,  held  at  this  memorable  epoch  the  reins 
of  government.  With  a  heart  full  of  sincerity,  with  a 
truly  heroic  patience,  had  Ferdinand  brought  about 
the  religious  peace  of  Augsburg,  and  afterward,  in  the 
Council  of  Trent,  labored  assiduously,  though  vainly,  at 
the  ungrateful  task  of  reconciling  the  two  religions. 
Abandoned  by  his  nephew,  Philip  of  Spain,  and  hard 
pressed  both  in  Hungary  and  Transylvania  by  the  victo- 
rious armies  of  the  Turks,  it  was  not  likely  that  this 
emperor  would  entertain  the  idea  of  violating  the  reli 
gious  peace,  and  thereby  destroying  his  own  painful 
work.  The  heavy  expenses  of  the  perpetually  recur- 
ring war  with  Turkey  could  not  be  defrayed  by  the 
meager  contributions  of  his  exhausted  hereditary  domin- 
ions. He  stood,  therefore,  in  need  of  the  assistance  of 
the  whole  empire  ;  and  the  religious  peace  alone  pre- 
served in  one  body  the  otherwise  divided  empire.  Fi- 
nancial necessities  made  the  Protestant  a9  needful  to 
him  as  the  Romanist,  and  imposed  upon  him  the  obliga- 
tion of  treating  both  parties  with  equal  justice,  which, 
amid  so  many  contradictory  claims,  was  truly  a  colossal 
task.    Very  far,  however,  was  the  result  from  answer- 


«20 


SCHILLER'.-:   THIRTY   YEAR*'  WAR. 


ing  his  expectations.  His  indulgence  of  the  Protestants 
served  only  to  bring  upon  his  successors  a  war,  which 
death  saved,  himself  the  mortification  of  witnessing. 
Scarcely  more  fortunate  was  his  son  Maximilian,  with 
whom,  perhaps,  the  pressure  of  circumstances  was 
the  only  obstacle,  and  a  longer  life,  perhaps,  the  only 
want,  to  his  establishing  the  new  religion  upon  the  im- 
perial throne.  Necessity  had  taught  the  father  forbear- 
ance toward  the  Protestants  —  necessity  and  justice 
dictated  the  same  course  to  the  son.  The  grandson 
had  reason  to  repent  that  he  neither  listened  to  justice, 
nor  yielded  to  necessity. 

Maximilian  left  six  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest,  the 
Archduke  Rodolph,  inherited  his  dominions,  and  as- 
cended the  imperial  throne.  The  other  brothers  were 
put  off  with  petty  appanages.  A  few  mesne  fiefs  were 
held  by  a  collateral  branch,  which  had  their  uncle, 
Charles  of  Styria,  at  its  head;  and  even  these  were 
afterward,  under  his  son,  Ferdinand  XL,  incorporated 
with  the  rest  of  the  family  dominions.  With  this  ex- 
ception, the  whole  of  the  imposing  power  of  Austria 
was  now  wielded  by  a  single,  but  unfortunately  weak 
hand. 

Rodolph  II.  was  not  devoid  of  those  virtues  which 
might  have  gained  him  the  esteem  of  mankind,  had  the 
lot  of  a  private  station  fallen  to  him.  His  character  was 
mild,  he  loved  peace  and  the  sciences,  particularly  as- 
tronomy, natural  history,  chemistry,  and  the  study  of 
antiquities.  To  these  he  applied  with  a  passionate  zeal, 
which,  at  the  very  time  when  the  critical  posture  of 
affairs  demanded  all  his  attention,  and  his  exhausted 
finances  the  most  rigid  economy,  diverted  his  attention 
from  state  affairs,  and  involved  him  in  pernicious  ex- 
pense. His  taste  for  astronomy  soon  lost  itself  in  those 
astrological  reveries  to  which  timid  and  melancholy  tem- 
peraments like  his  are  but  too  disposed.  This,  together 
with  a  youth  passed  in  Spain,  opened  his  ears  to  the 
evil  counsels  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  influence  of  the 
Spanish  court,  by  which  at  last  he  was  wholly  governed. 
Ruled  by  tastes  so  little  in  accordance  with  the  dignity 
of  his  station,  and  alarmed  by  ridiculous  prophecies,  he 
withdrew,  after  the  Spanish  custom,  from  the  eyes  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


21 


his  subjects,  to  bury  himself  amid  his  gems  and  an- 
tiques, in  his  laboratory,  while  the  most  fatal  discords 
loosened  all  the  bands  of  the  empire,  and  the  flames  of 
rebellion  began  to  burst  out  round  the  very  footsteps  of 
his  throne.  All  access  to  his  person  was  denied,  the 
most  urgent  matters  were  neglected.  The  prospect  of 
the  rich  inheritance  of  Spain  was  closed  against  him, 
while  he  was  trying  to  make  up  his  mind  to  offer  his 
hand  to  the  Infanta  Isabella.  A  fearful  anarchy  threat- 
ened the  empire,  because,  though  without  an  heir  of 
his  own  body  himself,  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
allow  the  election  of  a  king  of  the  Romans.  The  Aus- 
trian states  renounced  their  allegiance,  Hungaiy  and 
Transylvania  threw  off  his  supremacy,  and  Bohemia 
was  not  slow  in  following  their  example.  The  descend- 
ant of  the  once  so  formidable  Charles  V.  was  in  perpet- 
ual danger,  either  of  losing  one  part  of  his  possessions 
to  the  Turks,  or  another  to  the  Protestants,  and  of  sink- 
ing, beyond  redemption,  under  the  formidable  coalition 
which  a  great  monarch  of  Europe  had  formed  against 
him.  The  events  which  now  took  place  in  the  interior 
of  Germany  were  such  as  usually  happened  when  either 
the  throne  was  without  an  emperor,  or  the  emperor 
without  a  sense  of  his  imperial  dignity.  Outraged  or 
abandoned  by  their  head,  the  states  of  the  empire  were 
left  to  help  themselves  ;  and  alliances  among  them- 
selves must  supply  the  defective  authority  of  the  em- 
peror. Germany  was  divided  into  two  leagues,  which 
stood  in  arms  arrayed  against  each  other  :  between  both, 
Rodolph,  the  despised  opponent  of  the  one,  and  the  im- 
potent protector  of  the  other,  remained  irresolute  and 
useless,  equally  unable  to  destroy  the  former  or  to 
command  the  latter.  What  had  the  empire  to  look  for 
from  a  prince  incapable  even  of  defending  his  hereditary 
dominions  against  its  domestic  enemies  ?  To  prevent 
the  utter  ruin  of  the  House  of  Austria,  his  own  family 
combined  against  him ;  and  a  powerful  party  threw 
itself  into  the  arms  of  his  brother.  Driven  from  his 
hereditary  dominions,  nothing  was  now  left  him  to  lose 
but  the  imperial  dignity ;  and  he  was  only  spared  this 
last  disgrace  by  a  timely  death. 

At  this  critical  moment,  when  only  a  supple  policy, 


22 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


united  with  a  vigorous  arm,  could  have  maintained  the 
tranquillity  of  the  empire,  its  evil  genius  gave  it  a  Ro- 
dolph for  emperor.  At  a  more  peaceful  period  the 
Germanic  Union  would  have  managed  its  own  interests, 
and  Rodolph,  like  so  many  others  of  his  rank,  might 
have  hidden  his  deficiencies  in  a  mysterious  obscurity. 
But  the  urgent  demand  for  the  qualities  in  which  he 
was  most  deficient  revealed  his  incapacity.  The  posi- 
tion of  Germany  called  for  an  emperor  who,  by  his 
known  energies,  could  give  weight  to  his  resolves  ;  and 
the  hereditary  dominions  of  Rodolph,  considerable  as 
they  were,  were  at  present  in  a  situation  to  occasion  the 
greatest  embarrassment  to  the  governors. 

The  Austrian  princes,  it  is  true,  were  Roman  Cath- 
olics, and  in  addition  to  that,  the  supporters  of  popery, 
but  their  countries  were  far  from  being  so.  The  re- 
formed opinions  had  penetrated  even  these,  and,  favored 
by  Ferdinand's  necessities  and  Maximilian's  mildness, 
had  met  with  a  rapid  success.  The  Austrian  provinces 
exhibited  in  miniature  what  Germany  did  on  a  larger 
scale.  The  great  nobles  and  the  ritter  class,  or  knights, 
were  chiefly  evangelical,  and  in  the  cities  the  Protes- 
tants had  a  decided  preponderance.  If  they  succeeded 
in  bringing  a  few  of  their  party  into  the  country,  they 
contrived,  imperceptibly,  to  fill  all  places  of  trust  and  the 
magistracy  with  their  own  adherents,  and  to  exclude 
the  Catholics.  Against  the  numerous  order  of  the  no- 
bles and  knights,  and  the  deputies  from  the  towns,  the 
voice  of  a  few  prelates  was  powerless  ;  and  the  un- 
seemly ridicule  and  offensive  contempt  of  the  former, 
soon  drove  them  entirely  from  the  provincial  diets.  Thus 
the  whole  of  the  Austrian  Diet  had  imperceptibly  become 
Protestant,  and  the  Reformation  was  making  rapid 
strides  toward  its  public  recognition.  The  prince  was 
dependent  on  the  states,  who  had  it  in  their  power  to 
grant  or  refuse  supplies.  Accordingly  they  availed  them- 
selves of  the  financial  necessities  of  Ferdinand  and  his 
son,  to  extort  one  religious  concession  after  another. 
To  the  nobles  and  knights,  Maximilian  at  last  conceded 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  but  only  within  their 
own  territories  and  castles.  The  intemperate  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Protestant  preachers  overstepped  the  bound- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  2'ö 

aries  which  prudence  had  prescribed.  In  defiance  of 
the  express  prohibition,  several  of  them  ventured  to 
preach  publicly,  not  only  in  the  towns,  but  in  Vienna 
itself,  and  the  people  flocked  in  crowds  to  this  new  doc- 
trine, the  best  seasoning  of  which  was  personality  and 
abuse.  Thus  continued  food  was  supplied  to  fanaticism, 
and  the  hatred  of  two  churches,  that  were  such  near 
neighbors,  was  farther  envenomed  by  the  sting  of  an  im- 
pure zeal. 

Among  the  hereditary  dominions  of  the  House  of 
Austria,  Hungary  and  Transylvania  were  the  most  un- 
stable, and  the  most  difficult  to  retain.  The  impossi- 
bility of  holding  these  two  countries  against  the  neigh- 
boring and  overwhelming  power  of  the  Turks,  had 
already  driven  Ferdinand  to  the  inglorious  expedient  of 
recognizing,  by  an  annual  tribute,  the  Porte's  supremacy 
over  Transylvania ;  a  shameful  confession  of  weakness, 
and  a  still  more  dangerous  temptation  to  the  turbulent 
nobility,  when  they  fancied  they  had  any  reason  to  com- 
plain of  their  master.  Not  without  conditions  had  the 
Hungarians  submitted  to  the  House  of  Austria.  They 
asserted  the  elective  freedom  of  their  crown,  and  boldly 
contended  for  all  those  prerogatives  of  their  order  which 
are  inseparable  from  this  freedom  of  election.  The 
near  neighborhood  of  Turkey,  the  facility  of  changing 
masters  with  impunity,  encouraged  the  magnates  still 
more  in  their  presumption  ;  discontented  with  the  Aus- 
trian government,  they  threw  themselves  into  the  arms 
of  the  Turks  ;  dissatisfied  with  these,  they  returned 
again  to  their  German  sovereigns.  The  frequency  and 
rapidity  of  these  transitions  from  one  government  to 
another,  had  communicated  its  influence  also  to  their 
mode  of  thinking ;  and  as  their  country  wavered  be- 
tween the  Turkish  and  Austrian  rule,  so  their  minds 
vacillated  between  revolt  and  submission.  The  more 
unfortunate  each  nation  felt  itself  in  being  degraded  into 
a  province  of  a  foreign  kingdom,  the  stronger  desire  did 
they  feel  to  obey  a  monarch  chosen  from  among  them- 
selves, and  thus  it  was  always  easy  for  an  enterprising 
noble  to  obtain  their  support.  The  nearest  Turkish 
pashaw  was  always  ready  to  bestow  the  Hungarian  scep- 
ter and  crown  on  a  rebel  against  Austria ;  just  as  ready 


84 


»chiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


was  Austria  to  confirm  to  any  adventurer  the  possession 
of  provinces  which  he  had  wrested  from  the  Porte, 
satisfied  with  preserving  thereby  the  shadow  of  author- 
ity, and  with  erecting  at  the  same  time  a  barrier  against 
the  Turks.  In  this  way  several  of  these  magnates, 
Bathori,  Boschkai,  Ragoczi,  and  Bethlem,  succeeded  in 
establishing  themselves,  one  after  another,  as  tributary 
sovereigns  in  Transylvania  and  Hungary  ;  and  they 
maintained  their  ground  by  no  deeper  policy  than  that 
of  occasionally  joining  the  enemy,  in  order  to  render 
themselves  more  formidable  to  their  own  prince. 

Ferdinand,  Maximilian,  and  Rodolph,  who  were  all  sov- 
ereigns of  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  exhausted  their 
other  territories  in  endeavoring  to  defend  these  from  the 
hostile  inroads  of  the  Turks,  and  to  put  down  intestine 
rebellion.  In  this  quarter  destructive  wars  were  succeed- 
ed but  by  brief  truces,  which  were  scarcely  less  hurtful : 
far  and  wide  the  land  lay  waste,  while  the  injured  serf 
had  to  complain  equally  of  his  enemy  and  his  protector. 
Into  these  countries  also  the  Reformation  had  penetra- 
ted ;  and,  protected  by  the  freedom  of  the  states,  and 
under  the  cover  of  the  internal  disorders,  had  made  a 
noticeable  progress.  Here  too  it  was  incautiously  at- 
tacked, and  party  spirit  thus  became  yet  more  danger- 
ous from  religious  enthusiasm.  Headed  by  a  bold  rebel, 
Boschkai,  the  nobles  of  Hungary  and  Transylvania  raised 
the  standard  of  rebellion.  The  Hungarian  insurgents 
were  upon  the  point  of  making  common  cause  with  the 
discontented  Protetsants  in  Austria,  Moravia,  and  Bohe- 
mia, and  uniting  all  those  countries  in  one  fearful  revolt. 
The  downfall  of  popery  in  these  lands  would  then  have 
been  inevitable. 

Long  had  the  Austrian  archdukes,  the  brothers  of  the 
emperor,  beheld  with  silent  indignation  the  impending 
ruin  of  their  house  ;  this  last  event  hastened  their  de- 
cision. The  Archduke  Matthias,  Maximilian's  second 
son,  viceroy  in  Hungaiy,  and  Rodolph's  presumptive 
heir,  now  came  forward  as  the  stay  of  the  falling  House 
of  Hapsburg.  In  his  youth,  misled  by  a  false  ambition, 
this  prince,  disregarding  the  interests  of  his  family,  had 
listened  to  the  overtures  of  the  Flemish  insurgents,  who 
invited  him  into  the  Netherlands  to  conduct  the  defense 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


25 


of  their  liberties  against  the  oppression  of  his  own  rela- 
tive, Philip  II.  Mistaking  the  voice  of  an  insulated  fac- 
tion for  that  of  the  entire  nation,  Matthias  obeyed  the 
call.  But  the  event  answered  the  expectations  of  the 
men  of  Brabant  as  little  as  his  own,  and  from  this  im- 
prudent enterprise  he  retired  with  little  credit. 

Far  more  honorable  was  his  second  appearance  in  the 
political  world.  Perceiving  that  his  repeated  remon- 
strances with  the  emperor  were  unavailing,  he  assembled 
the  archdukes,  his  brothers  and  cousins,  at  Presburg, 
and  consulted  with  them  on  the  growing  perils  of  their 
house,  when  they  unanimously  assigned  to  him,  as  the 
oldest,  the  duty  of  defending  that  patrimony  which  a 
feeble  brother  was  endangering.  In  his  hands  they 
placed  all  their  powers  and  rights,  and  vested  him  with 
sovereign  authority,  to  act  at  his  discretion  for  the  com- 
mon good.  Matthias  immediately  opened  a  communi- 
cation with  the  Porte  and  the  Hungarian  rebels,  and 
through  his  skillful  management  succeeded  in  saving,  by 
a  peace  with  the  Turks,  the  remainder  of  Hungary,  and 
by  a  treaty  with  the  rebels,  preserved  the  claims  of 
Austria  to  the  lost  provinces.  But  Rodolph,  as  jealous 
as  he  had  hitherto  been  careless  of  his  sovereign  author- 
ity, refused  to  ratify  this  treaty,  which  he  regarded  as 
a  criminal  encroachment  on  his  sovereign  rights.  He 
accused  the  archduke  of  keeping  up  a  secret  understand- 
ing with  the  enemy,  and  of  cherishing  treasonable  de- 
signs on  the  crown  of  Hungary. 

The  activity  of  Matthias  was,  in  truth,  any  thing  but 
disinterested  ;  the  conduct  of  the  emperor  only  accel- 
erated the  execution  of  his  ambitious  views.  Secure, 
from  motives  of  gratitude,  of  the  devotion  of  the  Hunga- 
rians, for  whom  he  had  so  lately  obtained  the  blessings 
of  peace ;  assured  by  his  agents  of  the  favorable  dispo- 
sition of  the  nobles,  and  certain  of  the  support  of  a  large 
party,  even  in  Austria,  he  now  ventured  to  assume  a 
bolder  attitude,  and,  sword  in  hand,  to  discuss  his  griev- 
ances with  the  emperor.  The  Protestants  in  Austria 
and  Moravia,  long  ripe  for  revolt,  and  now  won  over  to 
the  archduke  by  his  promises  of  toleration,  loudly  and 
openly  espoused  his  cause,  and  their  long-menaced  alii 
ance  with  the  Hungarian  rebels  was  actually  effected. 


26  SCHILLER  S  THIRTY   YEARs'  WAR. 


Almost  at  once  a  formidable  conspiracy  was  planned  and 
matured  agninst  the  emperor.  Too  late  did  he  resolve 
to  amend  his  past  errors  ;  in  vain  did  he  attempt  to 
break  up  this  fatal  alliance.  Already  the  whole  empire 
was  in  arms ;  Hungary,  Austria,  and  Moravia  had  done 
homage  to  Matthias,  who  was  already  on  his  march  to 
Bohemia  to  seize  the  emperor  in  his  palace,  and  to  cut 
at  once  the  sinews  of  his  power. 

Bohemia  was  not  a  more  peaceable  possession  for  Aus- 
tria than  Hungary ;  with  this  difference  only,  that,  in 
the  latter,  political  considerations — in  the  former,  reli- 
gious dissensions,  fomented  disorders.  In  Bohemia,  a 
century  before  the  days  of  Luther,  the  first  spark  of 
the  religious  war  had  been  kindled :  a  century  after 
Luther,  the  first  flames  of  the  thirty  years'  war  burst 
out  in  Bohemia.  The  sect  which  owed  its  rise  to  John 
Huss,  still  existed  in  that  country ;  it  agreed  with  the 
Romish  church  in  ceremonies  and  doctrines,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  administration  of  the  Communion, 
in  which  the  Hussites  communicated  in  both  kinds. 
This  privilege  had  been  conceded  to  the  followers  of 
Huss  by  the  Council  of  Basle,  in  an  express  treaty  (the 
Bohemian  Compact) ;  and  though  it  was  afterward  dis- 
avowed by  the  popes,  they  nevertheless  continued  to 
profit  by  it  under  the  sanction  of  the  government.  As 
the  use  of  the  cup  formed  the  only  important  distinction 
of  their  body,  they  were  usually  designated  by  the  name 
of  Utraquists ;  and  they  readily  adopted  an  appellation 
which  reminded  them  of  their  dearly  valued  privilege. 
But  under  this  title  lurked  also  the  far  stricter  sects  of 
the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren,  who  differed  from 
the  predominant  church  in  more  important  particulars, 
and  bore,  in  fact,  a  great  resemblance  to  the  German 
Protestants.  Among  them  both,  the  German  and  Swiss 
opinions  on  religion  made  rapid  progress ;  while  the 
name  of  Utraquists,  under  which  they  managed  to  dis- 
guise the  change  of  their  principles,  shielded  them  from 
persecution. 

In  truth  they  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  Utra- 
quists but  the  name  ;  essentially,  they  were  altogether 
Protestant.  Confident  in  the  strength  of  their  party, 
and  the  emperor's  toleration  under  Maximilian,  they  had 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


27 


openly  avowed  their  tenets.  After  the  example  of  the 
Germans,  they  drew  up  a  Confession  of  their  own,  in 
which  Lutherans  as  well  as  Calvinists  recognized  their 
own  doctrines,  and  they  sought  to  transfer  to  the  new 
Confession  the  privileges  of  the  Utraquists.  In  this 
they  were  opposed  by  their  Roman  Catholic  country- 
men, and  forced  to  rest  content  with  the  emperor's  ver- 
bal assurance  of  protection. 

As  long  as  Maximilian  lived  they  enjoyed  complete 
toleration,  even  under  the  new  form  they  had  taken. 
Under  his  successor  the  scene  changed.  An  imperial 
edict  appeared,  which  deprived  the  Bohemian  Brethren 
of  their  religious  freedom.  Now  these  differed  in  noth- 
ing from  the  other  Utraquists.  The  sentence,  therefore, 
of  their  condemnation,  obviously  included  all  the  parti- 
sans of  the  Bohemian  Confession.  Accordingly,  they  all 
combined  to  oppose  the  imperial  mandate  in  the  Diet, 
but  without  being  able  to  procure  its  revocation.  The 
emperor  and  the  Roman  Catholic  estates  took  their 
ground  on  the  Compacts  and  the  Bohemian  Constitution  ; 
in  which  nothing  appeared  in  favor  of  a  religion  which 
had  not  then  obtained  the  voice  of  the  country.  Since 
that  time,  how  completely  had  affairs  changed  !  What 
then  formed  but  an  inconsiderable  opinion,  had  now  be- 
come the  predominant  religion  of  the  country.  And 
what  was  it,  then,  but  a  subterfuge,  to  limit  a  newly 
spreading  religion  by  the  terms  of  obsolete  treaties  ? 
The  Bohemian  Protestants  appealed  to  the  verbal  guar- 
antee of  Maximilian,  and  the  religious  freedom  of  the 
Germans,  with  whom  they  argued  they  ought  to  be  on  a 
footing  of  equality.  It  was  in  vain — their  appeal  was 
dismissed. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  in  Bohemia,  when 
Matthias,  already  master  of  Hungary,  Austria,  and  Mo- 
ravia, appeared  in  Collin,  to  raise  the  Bohemian  estates 
also  against  the  emperor.  The  embarrassment  of  the 
latter  was  now  at  its  height.  Abandoned  by  all  his  other 
subjects,  he  placed  his  last  hopes  on  the  Bohemians,  who, 
it  might  be  foreseen,  would  take  advantage  of  his  neces- 
sities to  enforce  their  own  demands.  After  an  interval 
of  many  years,  he  once  more  appeared  publicly  in  the 
Diet  at  Prague  ;  and  to  convince  the  people  that  he  was 


'2S         schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

really  still  in  existence,  orders  were  given  that  all  the 
windows  should  be  opened  in  the  streets  through  which 
he  was  to  pass — proof  enough  how  far  things  had  gone 
with  him.  The  event  justified  his  fears.  The  estates, 
conscious  of  their  own  power,  refused  to  take  a  single 
step  until  their  privileges  were  confirmed,  and  religious 
toleration  fully  assured  to  them.  It  was  in  vain  to  have 
recourse  now  to  the  old  system  of  evasion.  The  em- 
peror's fate  was  in  their  hands,  and  he  must  yield  to 
necessity.  At  present,  however,  he  only  granted  their 
other  demands — religious  matters  he  reserved  for  con- 
sideration at  the  next  Diet. 

The  Bohemians  now  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  the 
emperor,  and  a  bloody  war  between  the  two  brothers 
was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out.  But  Rodolph,  who 
feared  nothing  so  much  as  remaining  in  this  slavish  de- 
pendence on  the  estates,  waited  not  for  a  warlike  issue, 
but  hastened  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  his  brother 
by  more  peaceable  means.  By  a  formal  act  of  abdication 
he  resigned  to  Matthias,  what  indeed  he  had  no  chance 
of  wresting  from  him,  Austria  and  the  kingdom  of  Hun- 
gary, and  acknowledged  him  as  his  successor  to  the 
crown  of  Bohemia. 

Dearly  enough  had  the  emperor  extricated  himself 
from  one  difficulty,  only  to  get  immediately  involved  in 
another.  The  settlement  of  the  religious  affairs  of  Bo- 
hemia had  been  referred  to  the  next  Diet,  which  was 
held  in  1609.  The  reformed  Bohemians  demanded  the 
free  exercise  of  their  faith,  as  under  the  former  emper- 
ors ;  a  Consistory  of  their  own  ;  the  cession  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Prague  ;  and  the  right  of  electing  Defenders, 
or  Protectors  of  Liberty,  from  their  own  body.  The  an- 
swer was  the  same  as  before,  for  the  timid  emperor  was 
now  entirely  fettered  by  the  unreformed  party.  How- 
ever often,  and  in  however  threatening  language  the 
estates  renewed  their  remonstrances,  the  emperor  per- 
sisted in  his  first  declaration  of  granting  nothing  beyond 
the  old  compacts.  The  Diet  broke  up  without  coming 
to  a  decision ;  and  the  estates,  exasperated  against  the 
emperor,  arranged  a  general  meeting  at  Prague,  upon 
their  own  authority,  to  right  themselves. 

They  appeared  at  Prague  in  great  force.  In  defiance 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  29 

of  the  imperial  prohibition,  they  carried  on  their  deliber- 
ations almost  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  emperor.  The 
yielding  compliance  which  he  began  to  show,  only  proved 
how  much  they  were  feared,  and  increased  their  auda- 
city. Yet  on  the  main  point  he  remained  inflexible. 
They  fulfilled  their  threats,  and  at  last  resolved  to  es- 
tablish, by  their  own  power,  the  free  and  universal  exer- 
cise of  their  religion,  and  to  abandon  the  emperor  to  his 
necessities  until  he  should  confirm  this  resolution.  They 
even  went  farther,  and  elected  for  themselves  the  De- 
fenders which  the  emperor  had  refused  them.  Ten 
were  nominated  by  each  of  the  three  estates  ;  they  also 
determined  to  raise,  as  soon  as  possible,  an  armed  force, 
at  the  head  of  which  Count  Thurn,  the  chief  organizer 
of  the  revolt,  should  be  placed  as  general  defender  of 
the  liberties  of  Bohemia.  Their  determination  brought 
the  emperor  to  submission,  to  which  he  was  now  coun- 
seled even  by  the  Spaniards.  Apprehensive  lest  the 
exasperated  estates  should  throw  themselves  into  the 
arms  of  the  King  of  Hungary,  he  signed  the  memorable 
Letter  of  Majesty  for  Bohemia,  by  which,  under  the 
successors  of  the  emperor,  the  people  justified  their 
rebellion. 

The  Bohemian  Confession,  which  the  states  had  laid 
before  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  was,  by  the  Letter  of 
Majesty,  placed  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  olden 
profession.  The  L'traquists,  for  by  this  title  the  Bohe- 
mian Protestants  continued  to  designate  themselves, 
were  put  in  possession  of  the  University  of  Prague,  and 
allowed  a  Consistory  of  their  own,  entirely  independent 
of  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  that  city.  All  the  churches 
in  the  cities,  villages,  and  market-towns,  which  they  held 
at  the  date  of  the  letter,  were  secured  to  them ;  and  if 
in  addition  they  wished  to  erect  others,  it  was  permitted 
to  the  nobles,  and  the  knights,  and  the  free  cities  to  do 
so.  This  last  clause  in  the  Letter  of  Majesty  gave  rise 
to  the  unfortunate  disputes  which  subsequently  rekindled 
the  flames  of  war  in  Europe. 

The  Letter  of  Majesty  erected  the  Protestant  part 
of  Bohemia  into  a  kind  of  republic.  The  states  had 
learned  to  feel  the  power  which  they  gained  by  perse^ 
verance,  unity,  and  harmony  in  their  measures.  The 
c  2 


30        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


emperor  now  retained  little  more  than  the  shadow  of  his 
sovereign  authority;  while,  by  the  new  dignity  of  the  so- 
called  defenders  of  liberty,  a  dangerous  stimulus  was 
given  to  the  spirit  of  revolt.  The  example  and  success 
of  Bohemia  afforded  a  tempting  seduction  to  the  other 
hereditary  dominions  of  Austria,  and  all  attempted  by 
similar  means  to  extort  similar  privileges.  The  spirit  of 
liberty  spread  from  one  province  to  another ;  and  as  it  was 
chiefly  the  disunion  among  the  Austrian  princes  that  had 
enabled  the  Protestants  so  materially  to  improve  their 
advantages,  they  now  hastened  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  the  emperor  and  the  King  of  Hungary. 

But  the  reconciliation  could  not  be  sincere.  The 
wrong  was  too  great  to  be  forgiven,  and  Rodolph  con- 
tinued to  nourish  at  heart  an  unextinguishable  hatred  of 
Matthias.  With  grief  and  indignation  he  brooded  over 
the  thought,  that  the  Bohemian  scepter  was  finally  to 
descend  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy ;  and  the  prospect 
was  not  more  consoling,  even  if  Matthias  should  die  with- 
out issue.  In  that  case,  Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Grätz, 
whom  he  equally  disliked,  was  the  head  of  the  family. 
To  exclude  the  latter  as  well  as  Matthias  from  the  suc- 
cession to  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  he  fell  upon  the 
project  of  diverting  that  inheritance  to  Ferdinand's 
brother,  the  Archduke  Leopold,  Bishop  of  Passau,  who 
among  all  his  relatives  had  ever  been  the  dearest  and 
most  deserving.  The  prejudices  of  the  Bohemians  in 
favor  of  the  elective  freedom  of  their  crown,  and  their 
attachment  to  Leopold's  person,  seemed  to  favor  this 
scheme,  in  which  Rodolph  consulted  rather  his  own  par- 
tiality and  vindictiveness  than  the  good  of  his  house. 
But  to  carry  out  this  project,  a  military  force  was  requi- 
site, and  Rodolph  actually  assembled  an  army  in  the 
bishopric  of  Passau.  The  object  of  this  force  was  hid- 
den from  all.  An  inroad,  however,  which,  for  want  of 
pay,  it  made  suddenly  and  without  the  emperor's  knowl- 
edge into  Bohemia,  and  the  outrages  which  it  there  com- 
mitted, stirred  up  the  whole  kingdom  against  him.  In 
vain  he  asserted  his  innocence  to  the  Bohemian  estates ; 
they  would  not  believe  his  protestations  :  vainly  did  he 
attempt  to  restrain  the  violence  of  the  soldiery ;  they 
disregarded  his  orders.    Persuaded  that  the  emperor's 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  31 


object  was  to  annul  the  Letter  of  Majesty,  the  Protect- 
ors of  Liberty  armed  the  whole  of  Protestant  Bohemia, 
and  invited  Matthias  into  the  country.  After  the  dis- 
persion of  the  force  he  had  collected  at  Passau,  the  em- 
peror remained  helpless  at  Prague,  where  he  was  kept 
shut  up  like  a  prisoner  in  his  palace,  and  separated  from 
all  his  counselors.  In  the  mean  time  Matthias  entered 
Prague  amid  universal  rejoicings,  where  Rodolph  was 
soon  afterward  weak  enough  to  acknowledge  him  King 
of  Bohemia.  So  hard  a  fate  befell  this  emperor ;  he 
was  compelled,  during  his  life,  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his 
enemy  that  very  throne,  of  which  he  had  been  endeavor- 
ing to  deprive  him  after  his  own  death.  To  complete 
his  degradation,  he  was  obliged,  by  a  personal  act  of  re- 
nunciation, to  release  his  subjects  in  Bohemia,  Silesia, 
and  Lusatia  from  their  allegiance,  and  he  did  it  with  a 
broken  heart.  All,  even  those  he  thought  he  had  most 
attached  to  his  person,  had  abandoned  him.  When  he 
had  signed  the  instrument,  he  threw  his  hat  upon  the 
ground,  and  gnawed  the  pen  which  had  rendered  so 
shameful  a  service. 

While  Rodolph  thus  lost  one  hereditary  dominion 
after  another,  the  imperial  dignity  was  not  much  better 
maintained  by  him.  Each  of  the  religious  parties  into 
which  Germany  was  divided,  continued  its  efforts  to 
advance  itself  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  or  to  guard 
against  its  attacks.  The  weaker  the  hand  that  held  the 
scepter,  and  the  more  the  Protestants  and  Roman  Cath- 
obcs  felt  they  were  left  to  themselves,  the  more  vigi- 
lant necessarily  became  their  watchfulness,  and  the 
greater  their  distrust  of  each  other.  It  was  enough 
that  the  emperor  was  ruled  by  Jesuits,  and  was  guided 
by  Spanish  counsels,  to  excite  the  apprehension  of  the 
Protestants,  and  to  afford  a  pretext  for  hostility.  The 
inconsiderate  zeal  of  the  Jesuits,  which  in  the  pulpit 
and  by  the  press  disputed  the  validity  of  the  religious 
peace,  increased  this  distrust,  and  caused  them  to  see  a 
dangerous  design  in  the  most  indifferent  measures  of 
the  Roman  Catholics.  Every  step  taken  in  the  hered- 
itary dominions  of  the  emperor,  for  the  repression  of 
the  reformed  religion,  was  sure  to  draw  the  attention 
of  all  the  Protestants  of  Germany;  and  this  powerfu* 


32        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


support  which  the  reformed  subjects  of  Austria  met,  or 
expected  to  meet  with  from  their  religious  confederates 
in  the  rest  of  Germany,  was  no  small  cause  of  their 
confidence,  and  of  the  rapid  success  of  Matthias.  It 
was  the  general  belief  of  the  empire,  that  they  owed 
the  long  enjoyment  of  the  religious  peace  merely  to  the 
difficulties  in  which  the  emperor  was  placed  by  the  in- 
ternal troubles  in  his  dominions,  and  consequently  they 
were  in  no  haste  to  relieve  him  from  them. 

Almost  all  the  affairs  of  the  Diet  were  neglected, 
either  through  the  procrastination  of  the  emperor,  or 
through  the  fault  of  the  Protestant  estates,  who  had 
determined  to  make  no  provision  for  the  common  wants 
of  the  empire  till  their  own  grievances  were  removed. 
These  grievances  related  principally  to  the  misgovern- 
ment  of  the  emperor ;  the  violation  of  the  religious  trea- 
ty, and  the  usurpatious  presumption  of  the  Imperial 
Aulic  Council,  which  in  the  present  reign  had  begun  to 
extend  its  jurisdiction  at  the  expense  of  the  Imperial 
Chamber.  Formerly,  in  all  disputes  between  the  es- 
tates, which  could  not  be  settled  by  club-law,  the  em- 
perors had  decided  in  the  last  resort  of  themselves,  if 
the  case  were  trifling,  and  in  conjunction  with  the 
princes,  if  it  were  important;  or  they  determined  them 
by  imperial  judges  who  followed  the  court.  This  supe- 
rior jurisdiction  they  had,  in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  assigned  to  a  regular  and  permanent  tribunal, 
the  Imperial  Chamber  of  Spires,  in  which  the  estates 
of  the  empire,  that  they  might  not  be  oppressed  by  the 
arbitrary  appointment  of  the  emperor,  had  reserved  to 
themselves  the  right  of  electing  the  assessors,  and  of 
periodically  reviewing  its  decrees.  By  the  religious 
peace,  these  rights  of  the  estates  (called  the  rights  of 
presentation  and  visitation)  were  extended  also  to  the 
Lutherans,  so  that  Protestant  judges  had  a  voice  in 
Protestant  causes,  and  a  seeming  equality  obtained  for 
both  religions  in  this  supreme  tribunal. 

But  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation,  and  of  the  free- 
dom of  the  estates,  vigilant  to  take  advantage  of  every 
incident  that  favored  their  views,  soon  found  means  to 
neutralize  the  beneficial  effects  of  this  institution.  A 
supreme  jurisdiction  over  the  imperial  states  was  grad- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  33 


ually  and  skillfully  usurped  by  a  private  imperial  tribu- 
nal, the  Aulic  Council  in  Vienna,  a  court  at  first  in- 
tended merely  to  advise  the  emperor  in  the  exercise  of 
his  undoubted,  imperial,  and  personal  prerogatives  :  a 
court,  whose  members  being  appointed  and  paid  by  him, 
had  no  law  but  the  interest  of  their  master,  and  no 
standard  of  equity  but  the  advancement  of  the  unre- 
formed  religion  of  which  they  Were  partisans.  Before 
the  Aulic  Council  were  now  brought  several  suits  orig- 
inating between  estates  differing  in  religion,  and  which, 
therefore,  properly  belonged  to  the  Imperial  Chamber. 
It  was  not  surprising  if  the  decrees  of  this  tribunal  bore 
traces  of  their  origin ;  if  the  interests  of  the  Roman  church 
and  of  the  emperor  were  preferred  to  justice  by  Roman 
Catholic  judges,  and  the  creatures  of  the  emperor.  Al- 
though all  the  estates  of  Germany  seemed  to  have  equal 
cause  for  resisting  so  perilous  an  abuse,  the  Protestants 
alone,  who  most  sensibly  felt  it,  and  even  these  not  all 
at  once  and  in  a  body,  came  forward  as  the  defenders  of 
German  liberty,  which  the  establishment  of  so  arbitrary 
a  tribunal  had  outraged  in  its  most  sacred  point,  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice.  In  fact,  Germany  would  have 
had  little  cause  to  congratulate  itself  upon  the  abolition 
of  club-law,  and  in  the  institution  of  the  Imperial  Cham- 
ber, if  an  arbitrary  tribunal  of  the  emperor  was  allowed 
to  interfere  with  the  latter.  The  estates  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  would  indeed  have  benefited  little  upon 
the  days  of  barbarism,  if  the  Chamber  of  Justice,  in 
which  they  sat  along  with  the  emperor  as  judges,  and 
for  which  they  had  abandoned  their  original  princely 
prerogative,  should  cease  to  be  a  court  of  the  last  re- 
sort. But  the  strangest  contradictions  were  at  this  date 
to  be  found  in  the  minds  of  men.  The  name  of  emper- 
or, a  remnant  of  Roman  despotism,  was  still  associated 
with  an  idea  of  autocracy,  which,  though  it  formed  a 
ridiculous  inconsistency  with  the  privileges  of  the  es- 
tates, was  nevertheless  argued  for  by  jurists,  diffused 
by  the  partisans  of  despotism,  and  believed  by  the 
ignorant. 

To  these  general  grievances  was  gradually  added  a 
chain  of  singular  incidents,  which;  at  length,  converted 
the  anxiety  of  the  Protestants  into  utter  distrust.  Du» 

'  4 


34        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


ring  the  Spanish  persecutions  in  the  Netherlands,  sev- 
eral Protestant  families  had  taken  refuge  in  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  an  imperial  city,  and  attached  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  where  they  settled  and  insensibly  ex- 
tended their  adherents.  Having  succeeded  by  strata- 
gem in  introducing  some  of  their  members  into  the  mu- 
nicipal council,  they  demanded  a  church  and  the  public 
exercise  of  their  worship,  and  the  demand  being  unfa- 
vorably received,  they  succeeded  by  violence  in  enfor- 
cing it,  and  also  in  usurping  the  entire  government  of 
the  city.  To  see  so  important  a  city  in  Protestant 
hands  was  too  heavy  a  blow  for  the  emperor  and  the 
Roman  Catholics.  After  all  the  emperor's  requests 
and  commands  for  the  restoration  of  the  olden  govern- 
ment had  proved  ineffectual,  the  Aulic  Council  pro- 
claimed the  city  under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  which, 
however,  was  not  put  in  force  till  the  following  reign. 

Of  yet  greater  importance  were  two  other  attempts 
of  the  Protestants  to  extend  their  influence  and  their 
power.  The  Elector  Gebhard,  of  Cologne  (born  Truch- 
sess*  of  Waldburg),  conceived  for  the  young  Countess 
Agnes,  of  Mansfield,  Canoness  of  Gerresheim,  a  passion 
which  was  not  unreturned.  As  the  eyes  of  all  Germa- 
ny were  directed  to  this  intercourse,  the  brothers  of  the 
countess,  two  zealous  Calvinists,  demanded  satisfaction 
for  the  injured  honor  of  their  house,  which,  as  long  as 
the  elector  remained  a  Roman  Catholic  prelate,  could 
not  be  repaired  by  marriage.  They  threatened  the 
elector  they  would  wash  out  this  stain  in  his  blood  and 
their  sister's,  unless  he  either  abandoned  all  further 
connection  with  the  countess,  or  consented  to  reestab- 
lish her  reputation  at  the  altar.  The  elector,  indiffer- 
ent to  all  the  consequences  of  this  step,  listened  to  noth- 
ing but  the  voice  of  love.  Whether  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  his  previous  inclination  to  the  reformed  doc- 
trines, or  that  the  charms  of  his  mistress  alone  effected 
this  wonder,  he  renounced  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
and  led  the  beautiful  Agnes  to  the  altar. 

This  event  was  of  the  greatest  importance.  By  the 
letter  of  the  clause  reserving  the  ecclesiastical  states 


*  Grand  roaster  of  the  kitchen. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  35 


from  the  general  operation  of  the  religious  peace,  the 
elector  had,  by  his  apostacy,  forfeited  all  right  to  the 
temporalities  of  his  bishopric  ;  and  if,  in  any  case,  it  was 
important  for  the  Catholics  to  enforce  the  clause,  it  was 
so  especially  in  the  case  of  electorates.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  relinquishment  of  so  high  a  dignity  was  a  se- 
vere sacrifice,  and  peculiarly  so  in  the  case  of  a  tender 
husband,  who  had  wished  to  enhance  the  value  of  his 
heart  and  hand  by  the  gift  of  a  principality.  Moreover, 
the  Reservatum  Ecclesiasticum  was  a  disputed  article 
of  the  treaty  of  Augsburg ;  and  all  the  German  Prot- 
estants were  aware  of  the  extreme  importance  of  wrest- 
ing this  fourth*  electorate  from  the  opponents  of  their 
faith.  The  example  had  already  been  set  in  several 
of  the  ecclesiastical  benefices  of  Lower  Germany,  and 
attended  with  success.  Several  canons  of  Cologne  had 
also  already  embraced  the  Protestant  confession,  and 
were  on  the  elector's  side,  while,  in  the  city  itself,  he 
could  depend  upon  the  support  of  a  numerous  Protes- 
tant party.  All  these  considerations,  greatly  strength- 
ened by  the  persuasions  of  his  friends  and  relations, 
and  the  promises  of  several  German  courts,  determined 
the  elector  to  retain  his  dominions,  while  he  changed 
his  religion. 

But  it  was  soon  apparent  that  he  had  entered  upon  a 
contest  which  he  could  not  carry  through.  Even  the 
free  toleration  of  the  Protestant  service  within  the  ter- 
ritories of  Cologne,  had  already  occasioned  a  violent 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  canons  and  Roman  Catho- 
lic estates  of  that  province.  The  intervention  of  the 
emperor,  and  a  papal  ban  from  Rome,  which  anathema- 
tized the  elector  as  an  apostate,  and  deprived  him  of  all 
his  dignities,  temporal  and  spiritual,  armed  his  own  sub- 
jects and  chapter  against  him.  The  elector  assembled 
a  military  force  ;  the  chapter  did  the  same.  To  insure 
also  the  aid  of  a  strong  arm,  they  proceeded  forthwith 
to  a  new  election,  and  chose  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  a 
prince  of  Bavaria. 

A  civil  war  now  commenced,  which,  from  the  strong 
interests  which  both  religious  parties  in  Germany  ne- 

*  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and  the  Palatinate  were  already 
Protestant, 


36        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


cessarily  felt  in  the  conjuncture,  was  likely  to  terminate 
in  a  general  breaking  up  of  the  religious  peace.  What 
most  made  the  Protestants  indignant,  was  that  the  Pope 
should  have  presumed,  by  a  pretended  apostolic  power, 
to  deprive  a  prince  of  the  empire  of  his  imperial  digni- 
ties. Even  in  the  golden  days  of  their  spiritual  domi- 
nation, this  prerogative  of  the  Pope  had  been  disputed ; 
how  much  more  likely  was  it  to  be  questioned  at  a  pe- 
riod when  his  authority  was  entirely  disowned  by  one 
parry,  while  even  with  the  other  it  rested  on  a  tottering 
foundation.  All  the  Protestant  princes  took  up  the 
affair  warmly  against  the  emperor,  and  Henry  IV.  of 
France,  then  King  of  Navarre,  left  no  means  of  negoti- 
ation untried  to  urge  the  German  princes  to  the  vigor- 
ous assertion  of  their  rights.  The  issue  would  decide 
forever  the  liberties  of  Germany.  Four  Protestants 
against  three  Roman  Catholic  voices  in  the  Electoral 
College  must  at  once  have  given  the  preponderance  to 
the  former,  and  forever  excluded  the  House  of  Austria 
from  the  imperial  throne. 

But  the  Elector  Gebhard  had  embraced  the  Calvinist, 
not  the  Lutheran  religion ;  and  this  circumstance  alone 
was  his  ruin.  The  mutual  rancor  of  these  two  churches 
would  not  permit  the  Lutheran  estates  to  regard  the 
elector  as  one  of  their  party,  and  as  such  to  lend  him 
their  effectual  support.  All,  indeed,  had  encouraged 
and  promised  him  assistance ;  but  only  one  appanaged 
prince  of  the  Palatine  House,  the  Palsgrave  John  Cas- 
imir, a  zealous  Calvinist,  kept  his  word.  Despite  of  the 
imperial  prohibition,  he  hastened  with  his  little  army 
into  the  territories  of  Cologne  ;  but  without  being  able 
to  effect  any  thing,  because  the  elector,  who  was  desti- 
tute even  of  the  first  necessaries,  left  him  totally  with- 
out help.  So  much  the  more  rapid  was  the  progress 
of  the  newly-chosen  elector,  whom  his  Bavarian  rela- 
tions and  the  Spaniards  from  the  Netherlands  supported 
with  the  utmost  vigor.  The  troops  of  Gebhard,  left  by 
their  master  without  pay,  abandoned  one  place  after 
another  to  the  enemy,  by  whom  others  were  compelled 
to  surrender.  In  his  Westphalian  territories,  Gebhard 
held  out  for  some  time  longer,  till  here,  too,  he  was 
at  last  obliged  to  yield  to  superior  force.    After  several 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  37 


vain  attempts  in  Holland  and  England  to  obtain  means 
for  his  restoration,  he  retired  into  the  Chapter  of  Stras- 
burg, and  died  dean  of  that  cathedral ;  the  first  sacrifice 
to  the  Ecclesiastical  Reservation,  or,  rather,  to  the  want 
of  harmony  among  the  German  Protestants. 

To  this  dispute  in  Cologne  was  soon  added  another 
in  Strasburg.  Several  Protestant  canons  of  Cologne, 
who  had  been  included  in  the  same  papal  ban  with  the 
elector,  had  taken  refuge  within  this  bishopric,  where 
they  likewise  held  prebends.  As  the  Roman  Catholic 
canons  of  Strasburg  hesitated  to  allow  them,  as  being 
under  the  ban,  the  enjoyment  of  their  prebends,  they 
took  violent  possession  of  their  benefices,  and  the  sup- 
port of  a  powerful  Protestant  party  among  the  citizens 
soon  gave  them  the  preponderance  in  the  chapter. 
The  other  canons  thereupon  retired  to  Alsace-Saverne, 
where,  under  the  protection  of  the  bishop,  they  estab- 
lished themselves  as  the  only  lawful  chapter,  and  de- 
nounced that  which  remained  in  Strasburg  as  illegal. 
The  latter,  in  the  mean  time,  had  so  strengthened  them- 
selves by  the  reception  of  several  Protestant  colleagues 
of  high  rank,  that  they  could  venture,  upon  the  death 
of  the  bishop,  to  nominate  a  new  Protestant  bishop  in 
the  person  of  John  George,  of  Brandenburg.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  canons,  far  from  allowing  this  election, 
nominated  the  Bishop  of  Metz,  a  prince  of  Lorraine,  to 
that  dignity,  who  announced  his  promotion  by  immedi- 
ately commencing  hostilities  against  the  territories  of 
Strasburg. 

That  city  now  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  its  Protes- 
tant chapter  and  the  Prince  of  Brandenburg,  while  the 
other  party,  with  the  assistance  of  the  troops  of  Lor- 
raine, endeavored  to  possess  themselves  of  the  tempo- 
ralities of  the  chapter.  A  tedious  war  was  the  conse- 
quence, which,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  was 
attended  with  barbarous  devastations.  In  vain  did  the 
emperor  interpose  with  his  supreme  authority  to  ter- 
minate the  dispute ;  the  ecclesiastical  property  re- 
mained for  a  long  time  divided  between  the  two  parties, 
till  at  last  the  Protestant  prince,  for  a  moderate  pecuni- 
ary equivalent,  renounced  his  claims  ;  and  thus,  in  this 
dispute  also,  the  Roman  church  came  off  victorious. 


38        bchiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


An  occasion  which,  soon  after  the  adjustment  of  this 
dispute,  took  place  in  Donauwerth,  a  free  city  of  Suabia, 
was  still  more  critical  for  the  whole  of  Protestant  Ger- 
many. In  this  once  Roman  Catholic  city,  the  Protes- 
tants, during  the  reigns  of  Ferdinand  and  his  son,  had, 
in  the  usual  way,  become  so  completely  predominant, 
that  the  Roman  Catholics  were  obliged  to  content  them- 
selves with  a  church  in  the  Monastery  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
and,  for  fear  of  offending  the  Protestants,  were  even 
forced  to  suppress  the  greater  part  of  their  religious 
rites.  At  length,  a  fanatical  abbot  of  this  monastery 
ventured  to  defy  the  popular  prejudices,  and  to  arrange 
a  public  procession,  preceded  by  the  cross  and  banners 
flying ;  but  he  was  soon  compelled  to  desist  from  the 
attempt.  When,  a  year  afterward,  encouraged  by  a 
favorable  imperial  proclamation,  the  same  abbot  at- 
tempted to  renew  this  procession,  the  citizens  proceed- 
ed to  open  violence.  The  inhabitants  shut  the  gates 
against  the  monks  on  their  return,  trampled  their  colors 
under  foot,  and  followed  them  home  with  clamor  and 
abuse.  An  imperial  citation  was  the  consequence  of 
this  act  of  violence ;  and  as  the  exasperated  populace 
even  threatened  to  assault  the  imperial  commissaries, 
and  all  attempts  at  an  amicable  adjustment  were  frus- 
trated by  the  fanaticism  of  the  multitude,  the  city  was, 
at  last,  formally  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  the 
execution  of  which  was  intrusted  to  Maximilian,  Duke 
of  Bavaria.  The  citizens,  formerly  so  insolent,  were 
seized  with  terror  at  the  approach  of  the  Bavarian  army ; 
pusillanimity  now  possessed  them,  though  once  so.  full 
of  defiance,  and  they  laid  down  their  arms  without 
striking  a  blow.  The  total  abolition  of  the  Protestant 
religion  within  the  walls  of  the  city  was  the  punishment 
of  their  rebellion  ;  it  was  deprived  of  its  privileges,  and, 
from  a  free  city  of  Suabia,  converted  into  a  municipal 
town  of  Bavaria. 

Two  circumstances  connected  with  this  proceeding 
must  have  strongly  excited  the  attention  of  the  Protes- 
tants, even  if  the  interests  of  religion  had  been  less 
powerful  on  their  minds.  First  of  all,  the  sentence  had 
been  pronounced  by  the  Aulic  Council,  an  arbitrary  and 
exclusively  Roman  Catholic  tribunal,  whose  jurisdiction, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  39 


beside,  had  been  so  warmly  disputed  by  them  ;  and 
secondly,  its  execution  had  been  intrusted  to  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria,  the  head  of  another  circle.  These  uncon- 
stitutional steps  seemed  to  be  the  harbingers  of  further 
violent  measures  on  the  Roman  Catholic  side,  the  re- 
sult, probably,  of  secret  conferences  and  dangerous 
designs,  which  might,  perhaps,  end  in  the  entire  sub- 
version of  their  religious  liberty. 

In  circumstances  where  the  law  of  force  prevails, 
and  security  depends  upon  power  alone,  the  weakest 
party  is  naturally  the  most  busy  to  place  itself  in  a  pos- 
ture of  defense.  This  was  now  the  case  in  Germany 
If  the  Roman  Catholics  really  meditated  any  evil  against 
the  Protestants  in  Germany,  the  probability  was  that 
the  blow  would  fall  on  the  south  rather  than  the  north, 
because,  in  Lower  Germany,  the  Protestants  were  con- 
nected together  through  a  long,  unbroken  tract  of  coun- 
try, and  could,  therefore,  easily  combine  for  their  mutual 
support ;  while  those  in  the  south,  detached  from  each 
other,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  Roman  Catholic 
states,  were  exposed  to  eveiy  inroad.  If,  moreover, 
as  was  to  be  expected,  the  Catholics  availed  themselves 
of  the  divisions  among  the  Protestants,  and  leveled  their 
attack  against  one  of  the  religious  parties,  it  was  the 
Calvinists  who,  as  the  weaker,  and  as  being  beside  ex- 
cluded from  the  religious  treaty,  were  apparently  in  the 
greatest  danger,  and  upon  them  would  probably  fall  the 
first  attack. 

Both  these  circumstances  took  place  in  the  dominions 
of  the  Elector  Palatine,  who  possessed,  in  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  a  formidable  neighbor,  and  which,  by  reason 
of  their  defection  to  Calvinism,  received  no  protection 
from  the  religious  peace,  and  had  little  hope  of  succor 
from  the  Lutheran  states.  No  country  in  Germany 
had  experienced  so  many  revolutions  in  religion,  in  so 
short  a  time,  as  the  Palatinate.  In  the  space  of  sixty 
years,  this  country,  an  unfortunate  toy  in  the  hands  of 
its  rulers,  had  twice  adopted  the  doctrines  of  Luther, 
and  twice  relinquished  them  for  Calvanism.  The  Elec- 
tor Frederick  III.  first  abandoned  the  Confession  of 
Augsburg,  which  his  eldest  son  and  successor,  Lewis, 
immediately  reestablished.    The  Calvanists  throughout 


40 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  whole  country  were  deprived  of  their  churches, 
their  preachers  and  even  their  teachers  banished  be- 
yond the  frontiers ;  while  the  prince,  in  his  Lutheran 
zeal,  persecuted  them  even  in  his  will,  by  appointing 
none  but  strict  and  orthodox  Lutherans  as  the  guardians 
of  his  son,  a  minor.  But  this  illegal  testament  was  dis- 
regarded by  his  brother,  the  Count  Palatine,  John  Cas- 
imir, who,  by  the  regulations  of  the  Golden  Bull,  as- 
sumed the  guardianship  and  administration  of  the  state. 
Calvinistic  teachers  were  given  to  the  Elector  Fred- 
erick I V.,  then  only  nine  years  of  age,  who  were  or- 
dered, if  necessary,  to  drive  the  Lutheran  heresy  out 
of  the  soul  of  their  pupil  with  blows.  If  such  was  the 
treatment  of  the  sovereign,  that  of  the  subjects  may  be 
easily  conceived. 

It  was  under  this  Frederick  that  the  Palatine  court 
exerted  itself  so  vigorously  to  unite  the  Protestant 
states  of  Germany  in  joint  measures  against  the  House 
of  Austria,  and,  if  possible,  bring  about  the  formation  of 
a  general  confederacy.  Beside  that  this  court  had 
always  been  guided  by  the  counsels  of  France,  with 
whom  hatred  of  the  House  of  Austria  was  the  ruling 
principle,  a  regard  for  his  own  safety  urged  him  to  se- 
cure in  time  the  doubtful  assistance  of  the  Lutherans 
against  a  near  and  overwhelming  enemy.  Great  diffi- 
culties, however,  opposed  this  union,  because  the  Lu- 
therans' dislike  of  the  Reformed  was  scarcely  less  than 
the  common  aversion  of  both  to  the  Romanists.  An 
attempt  was  first  made  to  reconcile  the  two  professions, 
in  order  to  facilitate  a  political  union ;  but  all  these 
attempts  failed,  and  generally  ended  in  both  parties  ad- 
hering the  more  strongly  to  their  respective  opinions. 
Nothing  then  remained  but  to  increase  the  fear  and  the 
distrust  of  the  Evangelicals,  and  in  this  way  to  impress 
upon  them  the  necessity  of  this  alliance.  The  power 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  dan- 
ger, were  exaggerated,  accidental  incidents  were  as- 
cribed to  deliberate  plans,  innocent  actions  misrepresent- 
ed by  invidious  constructions,  and  the  whole  conduct  of 
the  professors  of  the  olden  religion  was  interpreted  as  the 
result  of  a  well-weighed  and  systematic  plan,  which,  in 
all  probability,  they  were  very  far  from  having  concerted. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war, 


41 


The  Diet  of  Ratisbon,  to  which  the  Protestants  had 
looked  forward  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  renewal  01 
the  religious  peace,  had  broke n  up  without  coming  to 
a  decision,  and  to  the  former  grievances  of  the  Protes- 
tant party,  was  now  added  the  late  oppression  of  Do- 
nauwerth. Wkh  incredible  speed,  the  union,  so  long 
attempted,  was  now  brought  to  bear.  A  conference 
took  place  at  Anhausen,  in  Franconia,  at  which  were 
present  the  Elector  Frederick  IV.,  from  the  Palatinate, 
the  Palsgrave  of  Neuberg,  two  margraves  of  Branden- 
burg, the  Margrave  of  Baden,  and  the  Duke  John 
Frederick  of  Wirtemburg — Lutherans  as  well  as  Calvin- 
ists — who,  for  themselves  and  their  heirs,  entered  into 
a  close  confederacy  under  the  title  of  the  Evangelical 
Union.  The  purport  of  this  union  was,  that  the  allied 
princes  should,  in  all  matters  relating  to  religion  and 
their  civil  rights,  support  each  other  with  arms  and 
counsel  against  every  aggressor,  and  should  all  stand  as 
one  man  ;  that  in  case  any  member  of  the  alliance  should 
be  attacked,  he  should  be  assisted  by  the  rest  with  an 
armed  force  ;  that,  if  necessary,  the  territories,  towns, 
and  castles  of  the  allied  states  should  be  open  to  his 
troops  ;  and  that,  whatever  conquests  were  made,  should 
be  divided  among  all  the  confederates,  in  proportion  to 
the  contingent  furnished  by  each. 

The  direction  of  the  whole  confederacy  in  time  of 
peace  was  conferred  upon  the  Elector  Palatine,  but 
with  a  limited  power.  To  meet  the  necessary  ex- 
penses, subsidies  were  demanded,  and  a  common  fund 
established.  Differences  of  religion  (betwixt  the  Lu- 
therans and  the  Calvinists)  were  to  have  no  effect  on 
this  alliance,  which  was  to  subsist  for  ten  years :  every 
member  of  the  Union  engaged  at  the  same  time  to 
procure  new  members  to  it.  The  Electorate  of  Bran- 
denburg adopted  the  alliance,  that  of  Saxony  rejected 
it.  Hesse-Cassel  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  de- 
clare itself,  the  dukes  of  Brunswick  and  Lüneburg  also 
hesitated.  But  the  three  cities  of  the  empire,  Stras- 
burg, Nuremberg,  and  Ulm,  were  no  unimportant  ac- 
quisition for  the  League,  which  was  in  great  want  of 
their  money,  while  their  example,  beside,  might  be  fol- 
lowed by  other  imperial  cities. 

d2 


42  SCHILLERS  THIRTY  YEARS*  WAR. 


After  the  formation  of  this  alliance,  the  confederate 
states,  dispirited  and  singly,  little  feared,  adopted  a  bolder 
language.  Through  Prince  Christian  of  Anhalt,  they 
laid  their  common  grievances  and  demands  before  the 
emperor  ;  among  which,  the  principal  were  the  restora- 
tion of  Donauwerth,  the  abolition  of  the  imperial  court, 
the  reformation  of  the  emperor's  own  administration, 
and  that  of  his  counselors.  For  these  remonstrances, 
they  chose  the  moment  when  the  emperor  had  scarcely 
recovered  breath  from  the  troubles  in  his  hereditaiy 
dominions — when  he  had  lost  Hungary  and  Austria  to 
Matthias,  and  had  barely  preserved  his  Bohemian  throne 
by  the  concession  of  the  Letter  of  Majesty,  and,  finally, 
when  through  the  succession  of  Juliers  he  was  already 
threatened  with  the  distant  prospect  of  a  new  war.  No 
wonder,  then,  that  this  dilatory  prince  was  more  irres- 
olute than  ever  in  his  decision,  and  that  the  confederates 
took  up  arms  before  he  could  bethink  himself. 

The  Roman  Catholics  regarded  this  confederacy  with 
a  jealous  eye  ;  the  Union  viewed  them  and  the  emperor 
with  the  like  distrust ;  the  emperor  was  equally  sus- 
picious of  both  ;  and  thus,  on  all  sides,  alarm  and  ani- 
mosity had  reached  their  climax.  And,  as  if  to  crown 
the  whole,  at  this  critical  conjuncture,  by  the  death  of  the 
Duke  John  William  of  Juliers,  a  highly  disputable  suc- 
cession became  vacant  in  the  territories  of  Juliers  and 
Cleves. 

Eight  competitors  laid  claim  to  this  territory,  the  in- 
divisibility of  which  had  been  guarantied  by  solemn  trea- 
ties ;  and  the  emperor,  who  seemed  disposed  to  enter 
upon  it  as  a  vacant  fief,  might  be  considered  as  the 
ninth.  Four  of  these,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  the 
Count  Palatine  of  Neuberg,  the  Count  Palatine  of 
Deux  Ponts,  and  the  Margrave  of  Burgau,  an  Austrian 
prince,  claimed  it  as  a  female  fief  in  name  of  four  prin- 
cesses, sisters  of  the  late  duke.  Two  others,  the  Elec- 
tor of  Saxony,  of  the  line  of  Albert,  and  the  Duke  of 
Saxony,  of  the  line  of  Ernest,  laid  claim  to  it  under  a 
prior  right  of  reversion  granted  to  them  by  the  Emperor 
Frederick  III.,  and  confirmed  to  both  Saxon  houses  by 
Maximilian  I.  The  pretensions  of  some  foreign  princes 
were  little  regarded.    The  best  right  was,  perhaps,  on 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  43 


the  side  of  Brandenburg  and  Neuberg,  and  between  the 
claims  of  these  two  it  was  not  easy  to  decide.  Both 
courts,  as  soon  as  the  succession  was  vacant,  proceeded 
to  take  possession ;  Brandenburg  beginning,  and  Neu- 
berg following  the  example.  Both  commenced  their 
dispute  with  the  pen,  and  would  probably  have  ended  it 
with  the  sword;  but  the  interference  of  the  emperor, 
by  proceeding  to  bring  the  cause  before  his  own  cogni- 
zance, and,  during  the  progress  of  the  suit,  sequestrating 
the  disputed  countries,  soon  brought  the  contending  par- 
ties to  an  agreement,  in  order  to  avert  the  common 
danger.  They  agreed  to  govern  the  duchy  conjointly. 
In  vain  did  the  emperor  prohibit  the  estates  from  doing 
homage  to  their  new  masters  ;  in  vain  did  he  send  his 
own  relation,  the  Archduke  Leopold,  Bishop  of  Passau 
and  Strasburg,  into  the  territory  of  Juliers,  in  order,  by 
his  presence,  to  strengthen  the  imperial  party.  The 
whole  country,  with  the  exception  of  Juliers  itself,  had 
submitted  to  the  Protestant  princes,  and  in  that  capital 
the  imperialists  were  besieged. 

The  dispute  about  the  succession  of  Juliers  was  an 
important  one  to  the  whole  German  empire,  and  also 
attracted  the  attention  of  several  European  courts.  It 
was  not  so  much  the  question,  who  was  or  was  not 
to  possess  the  Duchy  of  Juliers  ;  the  real  question  was, 
which  of  the  two  religious  parties  in  Germany,  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  or  the  Protestant,  was  to  be  strengthened 
by  so  important  an  accession — for  which  of  the  two 
religions  this  territory  was  to  be  lost  or  won.  The 
question,  in  short,  was,  whether  Austria  was  to  be 
allowed  to  persevere  in  her  usurpations,  and  to  gratify 
her  lust  of  dominion  by  another  robbery ;  or  whether 
the  liberties  of  Germany,  and  the  balance  of  power, 
were  to  be  maintained  against  her  encroachments.  The 
disputed  succession  of  Juliers,  therefore,  was  matter 
which  interested  all  who  were  favorable  to  liberty,  and 
hostile  to  Austria.  The  Evangelical  Union,  Holland, 
England,  and  particularly  Henry  IV.  of  France,  were 
drawn  into  the  strife. 

This  monarch,  the  flower  of  whose  life  had  been 
spent  in  opposing  the  House  of  Austria  and  Spain,  and 
by  persevering  heroism  alone  had  surmounted  the  obsta- 


44        schiller's  thirty  years  war. 

cles  which  this  house  had  thrown  between  him  and  the 
French  throne,  had  been  no  idle  spectator  of  the  troubles 
in  Germany.  This  contest  of  the  estates  with  the  em- 
peror was  the  means  of  giving  and  securing  peace  to 
France.  The  Protestants  and  the  Turks  were  the  two 
salutary  weights  which  kept  down  the  Austrian  power 
in  the  east  and  west :  but  it  would  rise  again  in  all  its 
terrors,  if  once  it  were  allowed  to  remove  this  pressure. 
Henry  IV.  had  before  his  eyes  for  half  a  lifetime,  the 
uninterrupted  spectacle  of  Austrian  ambition  and  Aus- 
trian lust  of  dominion,  which  neither  adversity  nor  pov- 
erty of  talents,  though  generally  they  check  all  human 
passions,  could  extinguish  in  a  bosom  wherein  flowed  one 
drop  of  the  blood  of  Ferdinand  of  Arragon.  Austrian  am- 
bition had  destroyed  for  a  century  the  peace  of  Europe, 
and  effected  the  most  violent  changes  in  the  heart  of  its 
most  considerable  states.  It  had  deprived  the  fields  of 
husbandmen,  the  workshops  of  artisans,  to  fill  the  land 
with  enormous  armies,  and  to  cover  the  commercial  sea 
with  hostile  fleets.  It  had  imposed  upon  the  princes  of 
Europe  the  necessity  of  fettering  the  industry  of  their 
subjects  by  unheard-of  imposts  ;  and  of  wasting  in  self- 
defense  the  best  strength  of  their  states,  which  was 
thus  lost  to  the  prosperity  of  their  inhabitants.  For 
Europe  there  was  no  peace,  for  its  states  no  welfare, 
for  the  people's  happiness  no  security  or  permanence, 
so  long  as  this  dangerous  house  was  permitted  to  dis- 
turb at  pleasure  the  repose  of  the  world. 

Such  considerations  clouded  the  mind  of  Henry  at 
the  close  of  his  glorious  career.  What  had  it  not  cost 
him  to  reduce  to  order  the  troubled  chaos  into  which 
France  had  been  plunged  by  the  tumult  of  civil  war, 
fomented  and  supported  by  this  very  Austria  !  Every 
great  mind  labors  for  eternity ;  and  what  security  had 
Henry  for  the  endurance  of  that  prosperity  which  he 
had  gained  for  France,  so  long  as  Austria  and  Spain 
formed  a  single  power,  which  did  indeed  lie  exhausted 
for  the  present,  but  which  required  only  one  lucky 
chance  to  be  speedily  reunited,  and  to  spring  up  again 
as  formidable  as  ever  ?  If  he  would  bequeath  to  his  suc- 
cessors a  firmly  established  throne,  and  a  durable  pros- 
perity to  his  subjects,  this  dangerous  power  must  be 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  45 


forever  disarmed.  This  was  the  source  of  that  irrecon- 
cilable enmity  which  Henry  had  sworn  to  the  House  of 
Austria,  a  hatred  unextinguishable,  ardent,  and  well- 
founded  as  that  of  Hannibal  against  the  people  of  Rom- 
ulus, but  ennobled  by  a  purer  origin. 

The  other  European  powers  had  the  same  induce- 
ments to  action  as  Henry,  but  all  of  them  had  not  that 
enlightened  policy,  nor  that  disinterested  courage  to  act 
upon  the  impulse.  All  men,  without  distinction,  are 
allured  by  immediate  advantages  ;  great  minds  alone 
are  excited  by  distant  good.  So  long  as  wisdom  in  its 
projects  calculates  upon  wisdom,  or  relies  upon  its  own 
strength,  it  forms  none  but  chimerical  schemes,  and 
runs  a  risk  of  making  itself  the  laughter  of  the  world  ; 
but  it  is  certain  of  success,  and  may  reckon  upon  aid 
and  admiration  when  it  finds  a  place  in  its  intellectual 
plans  for  barbarism,  rapacity,  and  superstition,  and  can 
render  the  selfish  passions  of  mankind  the  executors  of 
its  purposes. 

In  the  first  point  of  view,  Henry's  well-known  project 
of  expelling  the  House  of  Austria  from  all  its  posses- 
sions, and  dividing  the  spoil  among  the  European  pow- 
ers, deserves  the  title  of  a  chimera,  which  men  have  so 
liberally  bestowed  upon  it ;  but  did  it  merit  that  appel- 
lation in  the  second  ?  It  had  never  entered  into  the 
head  of  that  excellent  monarch,  in  the  case  of  those 
who  must  be  the  instruments  of  his  designs,  to  reckon  on 
the  sufficiency  of  such  motives  as  animated  himself  and 
Sully  to  the  enterprise.  All  the  states  whose  coopera- 
tion was  necessary,  were  to  be  persuaded  to  the  work  by 
the  strongest  motives  that  can  set  a  political  power  in  ac- 
tion. From  the  Protestants  in  Germany  nothingmore  was 
required  than  that  which,  on  other  grounds,  had  been 
long  their  object — their  throwing  off  the  Austrian  yoke. 
From  the  Flemings,  a  similar  revolt  from  the  Spaniards. 
To  the  Pope  and  all  the  Italian  republics  no  inducement 
could  be  more  powerful  than  the  hope  of  driving  the 
Spaniards  forever  from  their  peninsula ;  for  England, 
nothing  more  desirable  than  a  revolution  which  should 
free  it  from  its  bitterest  enemy.  By  this  division  of  the 
Austrian  conquests,  every  power  gained  either  land  or 
freedom,  new  possessions  or  security  for  the  old  ;  and, 


46        Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


as  all  gained,  the  balance  of  power  remained  undisturb- 
ed. France  might  magnanimously  decline  a  share  in 
the  spoil,  because  by  the  ruin  of  Austria  it  doubly  prof- 
ited, and  was  most  powerful  if  it  did  not  become  more 
powerful.  Finally,  upon  condition  of  ridding  Europe  of 
their  presence,  the  posterity  of  Hapsburg  were  to  be 
allowed  the  liberty  of  augmenting  her  territories  in  all  the 
other  known  or  yet  undiscovered  portions  of  the  globe. 
But  the  dagger  of  Ravaillac  delivered  Austria  from  her 
danger,  to  postpone  for  some  centuries  longer  the  tran- 
quillity of  Europe. 

With  his  view  directed  to  this  project,  Henry  felt  the 
necessity  of  taking  a  prompt  and  active  part  in  the  im- 
portant events  of  the  Evangelical  Union,  and  the  dis- 
puted succession  of  Juliers.  His  emissaries  were  busy 
in  all  the  courts  of  Germany,  and  the  little  which  they 
published  or  allowed  to  escape  of  the  great  political  se- 
crets of  their  master,  was  sufficient  to  win  over  minds 
inflamed  by  so  ardent  a  hatred  to  Austria,  and  by  so 
strong  a  desire  of  aggrandizement.  The  prudent  policy 
of  Henry  cemented  the  Union  still  more  closely,  and  the 
powerful  aid  which  he  bound  himself  to  furnish,  raised 
the  courage  of  the  confederates  into  the  firmest  confi- 
dence. A  numerous  French  army,  led  by  the  king  in 
person,  was  to  meet  the  troops  of  the  Union  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  and  to  assist  in  effecting  the  conquest  of 
Juliers  and  Cleves ;  then,  in  conjunction  with  the  Ger- 
mans, it  was  to  march  into  Italy  (where  Savoy,  Venice, 
and  the  Pope  were  even  now  ready  with  a  powerful 
reinforcement),  and  to  overthrow  the  Spanish  dominion 
in  that  quarter.  This  victorious  army  was  then  to  pene- 
trate by  Lombardy  into  the  hereditary  dominions  ot 
Hapsburg;  and  there,  favored  by  a  general  insurrection 
of  the  Protestants,  destroy  the  power  of  Austria  in  all 
its  German  territories,  in  Bohemia,  Hungary,  and  Tran- 
sylvania. The  Brabanters  and  Hollanders,  supported 
by  French  auxiliaries,  would  in  the  mean  time  shake  off 
the  Spanish  tyranny  in  the  Netherlands ;  and  thus  the 
mighty  stream  which,  only  a  short  time  before,  had  so 
fearfully  overflowed  its  banks,  threatening  to  overwhelm 
in  its  troubled  waters  the  liberties  of  Europe,  would  then 
roll  silent  and  forgotten  behind  the  Pyrenean  mountains. 


schiller's  thirty  yearö'  war.  47 

At  other  times  the  French  had  boasted  of  their  ra- 
pidity of  action,  but  upon  this  occasion  they  were  out- 
stripped by  the  Germans.  An  army  of  the  confederates 
entered  Alsace  before  Henry  made  his  appearance  there, 
and  an  Austrian  army,  which  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg 
and  Passau  had  assembled  in  that  quarter  for  an  expe- 
dition against  Juliers,  was  dispersed.  Henry  IV.  had 
formed  his  plan  as  a  statesman  and  a  king,  but  he  had 
intrusted  its  execution  to  pluudcrers.  According  to  his 
design,  no  Roman  Catholic  state  was  to  have  cause  to 
think  this  preparation  aimed  against  itself,  or  to  make 
the  quarrel  of  Austria  its  own.  Religion  was  in  no  wise 
to  be  mixed  up  with  the  matter.  But  how  could  the 
German  princes  forget  their  own  purposes  in  furthering 
the  plans  of  Hemy  /  Actuated  as  they  were  by  the  de- 
sire of  aggrandizement  and  by  religious  hatred,  was  it  to 
be  supposed  that  they  would  not  gratify,  in  every  passing 
opportunity,  their  ruling  passions  to  the  utmost  ?  Like 
vultures  they  stooped  upon  the  territories  of  the  eccle- 
siastical princes,  and  always  chose  those  rich  countries 
for  their  quarters,  though  to  reach  them  they  must  make 
ever  so  wide  a  detour  from  their  direct  route.  They 
levied  contributions  as  in  an  enemy's  country,  seized 
upon  the  revenues,  and  exacted  by  violence  what  they 
could  not  obtain  of  free-will.  Not  to  leave  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  doubt  as  to  the  true  objects  of  their  expe- 
dition, they  announced,  openly  and  intelligibly  enough, 
the  fate  that  awaited  the  property  of  the  church.  So 
little  had  Henry  IV.  and  the  German  princes  under- 
stood each  other  in  their  plan  of  operations,  so  much  had 
the  excellent  king  been  mistaken  in  his  instruments.  It 
is  an  unfailing  maxim,  that,  if  policy  enjoins  an  act  of  vio- 
lence, its  execution  ought  never  to  be  intrusted  to  the 
violent;  and  that  he  only  ought  to  be  trusted  with  the 
violation  of  order  by  whom  it  is  held  sacred. 

Both  the  past  conduct  of  the  Union,  which  was  con- 
demned even  by  several  of  the  evangelical  states,  and 
the  apprehension  of  even  worse  treatment,  aroused  the 
Roman  Catholics  to  something  beyond  mere  inactive 
indignation.  As  to  the  emperor,  his  authority  had  sunk 
too  low  to  afford  them  any  security  against  such  an 
enemy.    It  was  their  union  that  rendered  rh-3  confe  ier^ 


48 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


ates  so  formidable  and  so  insolent ;  and  another  union 
must  now  be  opposed  to  them. 

The  Bishop  of  Wurtzburg  formed  the  plan  of  the 
Catholic  union,  which  was  distinguished  from  the  evan- 
gelical by  the  title  of  the  League.  The  objects  agreed 
upon  were  nearly  the  same  as  those  which  constituted 
the  groundwork  of  the  Union.  Bishops  formed  its  prin- 
cipal members,  and  at  its  head  was  placed  Maximilian, 
Duke  of  Bavaria.  As  the  only  influential  secular  mem- 
ber of  the  confederacy,  he  was  intrusted  with  far  more 
extensive  powers  than  the  Protestants  had  committed 
to  their  chief.  In  addition  to  the  duke's  being  the  sole 
head  of  the  League's  military  power,  whereby  their 
operations  acquired  a  speed  and  weight  unattainable  by 
the  Union,  they  had  also  the  advantage  that  supplies 
flowed  in  much  more  regularly  from  the  rich  prelates, 
than  the  latter  could  obtain  them  from  the  poor  evan- 
gelical states.  Without  offering  to  the  emperor,  as  the 
sovereign  of  a  Roman  Catholic  state,  any  share  in  their 
confederacy,  without  even  communicating  its  existence 
to  him  as  emperor,  the  League  arose  at  once  formidable 
and  threatening;  with  strength  sufficient  to  crush  the 
Protestant  Union,  and  to  maintain  itself  under  three 
emperors.  It  contended,  indeed,  for  Austria,  in  so  far 
as  it  fought  against  the  Protestant  princes  ;  but  Austria 
herself  had  soon  cause  to  tremble  before  it. 

The  arms  of  the  Union  had,  in  the  mean  time,  been 
tolerably  successful  in  Juliers  and  in  Alsace ;  Juliers  was 
closely  blockaded,  and  the  whole  bishopric  of  Strasburg 
was  in  their  power.  But  here  their  splendid  achieve- 
ments came  to  an  end.  No  French  army  appeared  upon 
the  Rhine  ;  for  he  who  was  to  be  its  leader,  he  who  was 
the  animating  soul  of  the  whole  enterprise,  Henry  IV., 
was  no  more  !  Their  supplies  were  on  the  wane  ;  the 
estates  refused  to  grant  new  subsidies ;  and  the  con- 
federate free  cities  were  offended  that  their  money 
should  be  liberally,  but  their  advice  so  sparingly  called 
for.  Especially  were  they  displeased  at  being  put  to 
expense  for  the  expedition  against  Juliers,  which  had 
been  expressly  excluded  from  the  affairs  of  the  Union 
— at  the  united  princes  appropriating  to  themselves 
large  pensions  out  of  the  common  treasure — and,  above 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  49 

all,  at  their  refusing  to  give  an  account  of  its  expendi- 
ture. 

The  Union  was  thus  verging  to  its  fall  at  the  moment 
when  the  League  started  to  oppose  it  in  the  vigor  of  its 
strength.  Want  of  supplies  disabled  the  confederates 
from  any  longer  keeping  the  field.  And  yet  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  lay  down  their  weapons  in  the  sight  of  an 
armed  enemy.  To  secure  themselves  at  least  on  one 
side,  they  hastened  to  conclude  a  peace  with  their  old 
enemy,  the  Archduke  Leopold ;  and  both  parties  agreed 
to  withdraw  their  troops  from  Alsace,  to  exchange  pris- 
oners, and  to  bury  all  that  had  been  done  in  oblivion. 
Thus  ended  in  nothing  all  these  promising  preparations. 

The  same  imperious  tone  with  which  the  Union,  in 
the  confidence  of  its  strength,  had  menaced  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  Germany,  was  now  retorted  by  the  League 
upon  themselves  and  their  troops.  The  traces  of  their 
march  were  pointed  out  to  them,  and  plainly  branded 
with  the  hard  epithets  they  had  deserved.  The  chap- 
ters of  Wurtzburg,  Bamberg,  Strasburg,  Mentz,  Treves, 
Cologne,  and  several  others,  had  experienced  their  de- 
structive presence ;  to  all  these  the  damage  done  was  to  be 
made  good,  the  free  passage  by  land  and  by  water  restored 
(for  the  Protestants  had  even  seized  on  the  navigation 
of  the  Rhine),  and  every  thing  replaced  on  its  former 
footing.  Above  all,  the  parties  to  the  Union  were  called 
on  to  declare  expressly  and  unequivocally  its  intentions. 
It  was  now  their  turn  to  yield  to  superior  strength. 
They  had  not  calculated  on  so  formidable  an  opponent ; 
but  they  themselves  had  taught  the  Roman  Catholics  the 
secret  of  their  strength.  It  was  humiliating  to  their 
pride  to  sue  for  peace,  but  they  might  think  themselves 
fortunate  in  obtaining  it.  The  one  party  promised  resti- 
tution, the  other  forgiveness.  All  laid  down  then*  arms. 
The  storm  of  war  once  more  rolled  by,  and  a  temporary 
calm  succeeded.  The  insurrection  in  Bohemia  then 
broke  out,  which  deprived  the  emperor  of  the  last  of  his 
hereditary  dominions,  but  in  this  dispute  neither  the 
Union  nor  the  League  took  any  share. 

At  length  the  emperor  died  in  1612,  as  little  regretted 
in  his  coffin  as  noticed  on  the  throne.  Long  afterward, 
when  the  miseries  of  succeeding  reigns  had  made  the 
4  E 


50        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


misfortunes  of  his  forgotten,  a  halo  spread  about  his 
memory,  and  so  fearful  a  night  set  in  upon  Germany, 
that,  with  tears  of  blood,  people  prayed  for  the  return  of 
such  an  emperor. 

Rodolph  never  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  choose  a 
successor  in  the  empire,  and  all  awaited  with  anxiety  the 
approaching  vacancy  of  the  throne ;  but,  beyond  all  hope, 
Matthias  at  once  ascended  it,  and  without  opposition. 
The  Roman  Catholics  gave  him  their  voices,  because 
they  hoped  the  best  from  his  vigor  and  activity  ;  the 
Protestants  gave  him  theirs,  because  they  hoped  eveiy 
thing  from  his  weakness.  It  is  not  difficult  to  reconcile 
this  contradiction.  The  one  relied  on  what  he  had  once 
appeared  ;  the  other  judged  him  by  what  he  seemed  at 
present. 

The  moment  of  a  new  accession  is  always  a  day  of  hope ; 
and  the  first  Diet  of  a  king  in  elective  monarchies  is 
usually  his  severest  trial.  E  very  old  grievance  is  brought 
forward,  and  new  ones  are  sought  out,  that  they  may  be 
included  in  the  expected  reform  ;  quite  a  new  world  is 
expected  to  commence  with  the  new  king.  The  im- 
portant services  which,  in  his  insurrection,  their  religious 
confederates  in  Austria  had  rendered  to  Matthias,  were 
still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  Protestant  free  cities,  and, 
above  all,  the  price  which  they  had  exacted  for  their 
services  seemed  now  to  serve  them  also  as  a  model. 

It  was  by  the  favor  of  the  Protestant  estates  in  Aus- 
tria and  Moravia  that  Matthias  had  sought  and  really 
found  the  way  to  his  brother's  throne  ;  but,  hurried  on 
by  his  ambitious  views,  he  never  reflected  that  a  way 
was  thus  opened  for  the  states  to  give  laws  to  their 
sovereign.  This  discovery  soon  awoke  him  from  the  in- 
toxication of  success.  Scarcely  had  he  shown  himself 
in  triumph  to  his  Austrian  subjects,  after  his  victorious 
expedition  to  Bohemia,  when  a  humble  petition  awaited 
him  which  was  quite  sufficient  to  poison  his  whole  tri- 
umph. They  required,  before  doing  homage,  unlimited 
religious  toleration  in  the  cities  and  market-iowns,  per- 
fect equality  of  rights  between  Roman  Catholics  and 
Protestants,  and  a  full  and  equal  admissibility  of  the  lat- 
ter to  all  offices  of  state.  In  several  places,  they  of  them- 
selves assumed  these  privileges,  and,  reckoning  on  a 


Schiller's  thsse$*  years'  war. 


51 


change  of  administration,  restored  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion where  the  late  emperor  had  suppressed  it.  Mat- 
thias, it  is  true,  had  not  scrupled  to  make  use  of  the 
grievances  of  the  Protestants  for  his  own  ends  against 
the  emperor ;  but  it  was  far  from  being  his  intention  to 
relieve  them.  By  a  firm  and  resolute  tone  he  hoped  to 
check,  at  once,  these  presumptuous  demands.  He  spoke 
of  his  hereditary  title  to  these  territories,  and  would  hear 
of  no  stipulations  before  the  act  of  homage.  A  like  un- 
conditional submission  had  been  rendered  by  their  neigh- 
bors, the  inhabitants  of  Styria,  to  the  Archduke  Ferdi- 
nand, who,  however,  had  soon  reason  to  repent  of  it. 
Warned  by  this  example,  the  Austrian  states  persisted 
in  their  refusal ;  and,  to  avoid  being  compelled  by  force 
to  do  homage,  their  deputies  (after  urging  their  Roman 
Catholic  colleagues  to  a  similar  resistance)  immediately 
left  the  capital,  and  began  to  levy  troops. 

They  took  steps  to  renew  their  old  alliance  with  Hun- 
gary, drew  the  Protestant  princes  into  their  interests, 
and  set  themselves  seriously  to  work  to  accomplish  their 
object  by  force  of  arms. 

With  the  more  exorbitant  demands  of  the  Hungarians 
Matthias  had  not  hesitated  to  comply.  For  Hungary 
was  an  elective  monarchy,  and  the  republican  constitution 
of  the  country  justified  to  himself  their  demands,  and  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  world  his  concessions.  In  Austria, 
on  the  contrary,  his  predecessors  had  exercised  far 
higher  prerogatives,  which  he  could  not  relinquish  at  the 
demand  of  the  estates,  without  incurring  the  scorn  of 
Roman  Catholic  Europe,  the  enmity  of  Spain  and  Rome, 
and  the  contempt  of  his  own  Roman  Catholic  subjects. 
His  exclusively  Romish  council,  among  which  the  Bishop 
of  Vienna,  Melchio  Kiesel,  had  the  chief  influence,  ex- 
horted him  to  see  all  the  churches  extorted  from  him  by 
the  Protestants,  rather  than  to  concede  one  to  them  as  a 
matter  of  right. 

But  by  ill  luck  this  difficulty  occurred  at  a  time  when 
the  Emperor  Rodolph  was  yet  alive,  and  a  spectator  of 
this  scene,  and  who  might  easily  have  been  tempted  to 
employ  against  his  brother  the  same  weapons  which  the 
latter  had  successfully  directed  against  him — namely,  an 
understanding  with  his  rebellious  subjects.    To  avoid 


52        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


this  blow  Matthias  willingly  availed  himself  of  the  offer 
made  by  Moravia,  to  act  as  mediator  between  him  and 
the  estates  of  Austria.  Representatives  of  both  parties 
met  in  Vienna,  when  the  Austrian  deputies  held  language 
which  would  have  excited  surprise  even  in  the  English 
parliament.  "  The  Protestants,"  they  said,  "  are  deter- 
mined to  be  not  worse  treated  in  their  native  country  than 
the  handful  of  Romanists.  By  the  help  of  his  Protestant 
nobles  had  Matthias  reduced  the  emperor  to  submission ; 
where  eighty  Papists  were  to  be  found,  three  hundred 
Protestant  barons  might  be  counted.  The  example  of 
Rodolph  should  be  a  warning  to  Matthias.  He  should 
take  care  that  he  did  not  lose  the  terrestrial,  in  attempt- 
ing to  make  conquests  for  the  celestial."  As  the  Mora- 
vian states,  instead  of  using  their  powers  as  mediators  for 
the  emperor's  advantage,  finally  adopted  the  cause  of 
their  co-religionists  of  Austria;  as  the  Union  in  Ger- 
many came  forward  to  afford  them  its  most  active  sup- 
port, and  as  Matthias  dreaded  reprisals  on  the  part  of 
the  emperor,  he  was  at  length  compelled  to  make  the 
desired  declaration  in  favor  of  the  Evangelical  Church. 

This  behavior  of  the  Austrian  estates  toward  their 
archduke  was  now  imitated  by  the  Protestant  estates  of 
the  empire  toward  their  emperor,  and  they  promised 
themselves  the  same  favorable  results.  At  his  first 
Diet  at  Ratisbon  in  1613,  when  the  most  pressing  affairs 
were  waiting  for  decision — when  a  general  contribution 
was  indispensable  for  a  war  against  Turkey,  and  against 
Bethlem  Gabor  in  Transylvania,  who,  by  Turkish  aid, 
had  forcibly  usurped  the  sovereignty  of  that  land,  and 
even  threatened  Hungary — they  surprised  him  with  an 
entirely  new  demand.  The  Roman  Catholic  votes 
were  still  the  most  numerous  in  the  Diet ;  and  as  every 
thing  was  decided  by  a  plurality  of  voices,  the  Protes- 
tant party,  however  closely  united,  were  entirely  without 
consideration.  The  advantage  of  this  majority  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  were  now  called  on  to  relinquish  ;  hence- 
forward no  one  religious  party  was  to  be  permitted  to 
dictate  to  the  other  by  means  of  its  invariable  superiority. 
And  in  truth,  if  the  evangelical  religion  was  really  to  be 
represented  in  the  Diet,  it  was  self  evident  that  it  must 
not  be  shut  out  from  the  possibility  of  making  use  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  53 


that  privilege,  merely  from  the  constitution  of  the  Diet 
itself.  Complaints  of  the  judicial  usurpations  of  the 
Aulic  Council,  and  of  the  oppression  of  the  Protestants, 
accompanied  this  demand,  and  the  deputies  of  the  es- 
tates were  instructed  to  take  no  part  in  any  general 
deliberations  till  a  favorable  answer  should  be  given  on 
this  preliminary  point. 

The  Diet  was  torn  asunder  by  this  dangerous  division, 
which  threatened  to  destroy  forever  the  unity  of  its 
deliberations.  Sincerely  as  the  emperor  might  have 
wished,  after  the  example  of  his  father  Maximilian,  to 
preserve  a  prudent  balance  between  the  two  religions, 
the  present  conduct  of  the  Protestants  seemed  to  leave 
him  nothing  but  a  critical  choice  between  the  two.  In 
his  present  necessities  a  general  contribution  from  the 
estates  was  indispensable  to  him  ;  and  yet  he  could  not 
conciliate  the  one  party  without  sacrificing  the  support 
of  the  other.  Insecure  as  he  felt  his  situation  to  be  in 
his  own  hereditary  dominions,  he  could  not  but  tremble 
at  the  idea,  however  remote,  of  an  open  war  with  the 
Protestants.  But  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Roman  Catho- 
lic world,  which  were  attentively  regarding  his  conduct, 
the  remonstrances  of  the  Roman  Catholic  estates,  and 
of  the  courts  of  Rome  and  Spain,  as  little  permitted  him 
to  favor  the  Protestant  at  the  expense  of  the  Romish 
religion. 

So  critical  a  situation  would  have  paralyzed  a  greater 
mind  than  Matthias ;  and  his  own  prudence  would  scarcely 
have  extricated  him  from  his  dilemma.  But  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Roman  Catholics  were  closely  interwoven 
with  the  imperial  authority  ;  if  they  suffered  this  to  fall, 
the  ecclesiastical  princes,  in  particular,  would  be  with- 
out a  bulwark  against  the  attacks  of  the  Protestants. 
Now,  then,  that  they  saw  the  emperor  wavering,  they 
thought  it  high  time  to  reassure  his  sinking  cour- 
age. They  imparted  to  him  the  secret  of  their  League, 
and  acquainted  him  with  its  whole  constitution,  re- 
sources and  power.  Little  comforting  as  such  a  revela- 
tion must  have  been  to  the  emperor,  the  prospect  of  so 
powerful  a  support  gave  him  greater  boldness  to  oppose 
the  Prot-  stants.  Their  demands  were  rejected,  and 
the  Diet  \  roke  up  without  coming  to  a  decision.  But 
e  2 


54        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Matthias  was  the  victim  of  this  dispute.  The  Protes- 
tants refused  him  their  supplies,  and  made  him  alone 
suffer  for  the  inflexibility  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 

The  Turks,  however,  appeared  willing  to  prolong  the 
cessation  of  hostilities,  and  Bethlem  Gabor  was  left  in 
peaceable  possession  of  Transylvania.  The  empire  was 
now  free  from  foreign  enemies ;  and,  even  at  home,  in 
the  midst  of  all  these  fearful  disputes,  peace  still  reigned. 
An  unexpected  accident  had  given  a  singular  turn  to  the 
dispute  as  to  the  succession  of  Juliers.  This  duchy 
was  still  ruled  conjointly  by  the  Electorate  House  of 
Brandenburg,  and  the  Palatine  of  Neuberg  ;  and  a  mar- 
riage between  the  Prince  of  Neuberg  and  a  Princes«  of 
Brandenburg  was  to  have  inseparably  united  the  interests 
of  the  two  houses.  But  the  whole  scheme  was  upset 
by  a  box  on  the  ear,  which,  in  a  drunken  brawl,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  unfortunately  inflicted  upon  his 
intended  son-in-law.  From  this  moment  the  good  un- 
derstanding between  the  two  houses  was  at  an  end. 
The  Prince  of  Neuberg  embraced  popery.  The  hand 
of  a  princess  of  Bavaria  rewarded  his  apostacy,  and  the 
strong  support  of  Bavaria  and  Spain  was  the  natural 
result  of  both.  To  secure  to  the  palatine  the  exclusive 
possession  of  Juliers,  the  Spanish  troops  from  the  Neth- 
ei lands  were  marched  into  the  palatinate.  To  rid  him- 
self of  these  guests,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  called 
the  Flemings  to  his  assistance,  whom  he  sought  to 
propitiate  by  embracing  the  Calvanistic  religion.  Both 
Spanish  and  Dutch  armies  appeared,  but,  as  it  seemed, 
only  to  make  conquests  for  themselves. 

The  neighboring  war  of  the  Netherlands  seemed  now 
about  to  be  decided  in  German  ground ;  and  what  an 
inexhaustible  mine  of  combustibles  lay  here  ready  for  it! 
The  Protestants  saw  with  consternation  the  Spaniards 
establishing  themselves  upon  the  Lower  Rhine  ;  with 
still  greater  anxiety  did  the  Roman  Catholics  see  the 
Hollandei"s  bursting  through  the  frontiers  of  the  empire. 
It  was  in  the  west  that  the  mine  was  expected  to  ex- 
plode which  had  long  been  dug  under  the  whole  of 
Germany.  To  the  west,  apprehension  and  anxiety 
turned ;  but  the  spark  which  kindled  the  flame  came 
unexpectedly  from  the  east. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


The  tranquillity  which  Rodolph  II. "s  Letter  of  Maj- 
esty had  established  in  Bohemia  lasted  for  some  time, 
under  the  administration  of  Matthias,  till  the  nomination 
of  a  new  heir  to  this  kingdom  in  the  person  of  Ferdinand 
of  Gratz. 

This  prince,  whom  we  shall  afterward  become  better 
acquainted  with  under  the  title  of  Ferdinand  II.,  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  had,  by  the  violent  extirpation  of  the 
Protestant  religion  within  his  hereditary  dominions, 
announced  himself  as  an  inexorable  zealot  for  popery, 
and  was  consequently  looked  upon  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic part  of  Bohemia  as  the  future  pillar  of  their  church. 
The  declining  health  of  the  emperor  brought  on  this 
hour  rapidly ;  and,  relying  on  so  powerful  a  supporter, 
the  Bohemian  papists  began  to  treat  the  Protestants 
with  little  moderation.  The  Protestant  vassals  of  Ro- 
man Catholic  nobles,  in  particular,  experienced  the  harsh- 
est treatment.  At  length,  several  of  the  former  were 
incautious  enough  to  speak  somewhat  loudly  of  their 
hopes,  and  by  threatening  hints  to  awaken  among  the 
Protestants  a  suspicion  of  their  future  sovereign.  But 
this  mistrust  would  never  have  broken  out  into  actual 
violence,  had  the  Roman  Catholics  confined  themselves 
to  general  expressions,  and  not  by  attacks  on  individuals 
furnished  the  discontent  of  the  people  with  enterprising 
leaders. 

Henry  Matthias,  Count  Thurn,  not  a  native  of  Bohe- 
mia, but  proprietor  of  some  estates  in  that  kingdom,  had, 
by  his  zeal  for  the  Protestant  cause,  and  an  enthusiastic 
attachment  to  his  newly  adopted  country,  gained  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  Utraquists,  which  opened  him 
the  way  to  the  most  important  posts.  He  had  fought 
with  great  glory  against  the  Turks,  and  won,  by  a  flat- 
tering address,  the  hearts  of  the  multitude.  Of  a  hot 
and  impetuous  disposition,  which  loved  tumult  because 
his  talents  shone  in  it — rash  and  thoughtless  enough  to 
undertake  things  which  cold  prudence  and  a  calmer 
temper  would  not  have  ventured  upon — unscrupulous 
enough,  where  the  gratification  of  his  passions  was  con- 
cerned, to  sport  with  the  fate  of  thousands,  and  at  the 
same  time  politic  enough  to  hold  in  leading-strings  such 
a  people  as  the  Bohemians  then  were.    He  had  already 


56 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


taken  an  active  part  in  the  troubles  under  Rodolph's 
administration ;  and  the  Letter  of  Majesty,  which  the 
states  had  extorted  from  that  emperor,  was  chiefly  to 
be  laid  to  his  merit.  The  court  had  intrusted  to  him, 
as  burgrave  or  castellan  of  Calstein,  the  custody  of  the 
Bohemian  crown,  and  of  the  national  charter.  But  the 
nation  had  placed  in  his  hands  something  far  more  im- 
portant— itself— with  the  office  of  defender  or  protector 
of  the  faith.  The  aristocracy,  by  which  the  emperor 
was  ruled,  imprudently  deprived  him  of  this  harmless 
guardianship  of  the  dead,  to  leave  him  his  full  influence 
over  the  living.  They  took  from  him  his  office  of  bur- 
grave,  or  constable  of  the  castle,  which  had  rendered 
him  dependent  on  the  court,  thereby  opening  his  eyes 
to  the  importance  of  the  other  which  remained,  and 
wounded  his  vanity,  which  yet  was  the  thing  that  made 
his  ambition  harmless.  From  this  moment  he  was  act- 
uated solely  by  a  desire  of  revenge  ;  and  the  opportunity 
of  gratifying  it  was  not  long  wanting. 

In  the  royal  letter  which  the  Bohemians  had  extorted 
from  Rodolph  II.,  as  well  as  in  the  German  religious 
treaty,  one  material  article  remained  undetermined. 
All  the  privileges  granted  by  the  latter  to  the  Protes- 
tants, were  conceived  in  favor  of  the  estates  or  govern- 
ing bodies,  not  of  the  subjects  ;  for  only  to  those  of  the 
ecclesiastical  states  had  a  toleration,  and  that  precarious, 
been  conceded.  The  Bohemian  Letter  of  Majesty,  in 
the  same  manner,  spoke  only  of  the  estates  and  imperial 
towns,  the  magistrates  of  which  had  contrived  to  obtain 
equal  privileges  with  the  former.  These  alone  were 
free  to  erect  churches  and  schools,  and  openly  to  cel- 
ebrate their  Protestant  worship :  in  all  other  towns,  it 
was  left  entirely  to  the  government  to  which  they  be- 
longed, to  determine  the  religion  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
estates  of  the  empire  had  availed  themselves  of  this 
privilege  in  its  fullest  extent ;  the  secular  indeed  with- 
out opposition ;  while  the  ecclesiastical,  in  whose  case 
the  declaration  of  Ferdinand  had  limited  this  privilege, 
disputed,  not  without  reason,  the  validity  of  that  limita- 
tion. What  was  a  disputed  point  in  the  religious  treaty, 
was  left  still  more  doubtful  in  the  Letter  of  Majesty;  in 
the  former,  the  construction  was  not  doubtful,  but  it  was 


schiller's  thirty  years'  \yar.  57 

a  question  how  far  obedience  might  be  compulsory:  in  the 
latter,  the  interpretation  was  left  to  the  states.  The 
subjects  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates  in  Bohemia  thought 
themselves  entitled  to  the  same  rights  which  the  declar- 
ation of  Ferdinand  secured  to  the  subjects  of  German 
bishops  :  they  considered  themselves  on  an  equality 
with  the  subjects  of  imperial  towns,  because  they  looked 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  property  as  part  of  the  royal  de- 
mesnes. In  the  little  town  of  Klostergrab,  subject  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Prague ;  and  in  Braunau,  which  be- 
longed to  the  abbot  of  that  monastery,  churches  were 
founded  by  the  Protestants,  and  completed,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  of  their  superiors,  and  the  disap- 
probation of  the  emperor. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  vigilance  of  the  defenders  had 
somewhat  relaxed,  and  the  court  thought  it  might  ven- 
ture on  a  decisive  step.  By  the  emperor's  orders,  the 
church  at  Klostergrab  was  pulled  down ;  that  at  Brau- 
nau forcibly  shut  up,  and  the  most  turbulent  of  the 
citizens  thrown  into  prison.  A  general  commotion 
among  the  Protestants  was  the  consequence  of  this 
measure ;  a  loud  outciy  was  everywhere  raised  at  this 
violation  of  the  Letter  of  Majesty  ;  and  Count  Thurn, 
animated  by  revenge,  and  particularly  called  upon  by 
his  office  of  defender,  showed  himself  not  a  little  busy 
in  inflaming  the  minds  of  the  people.  At  his  instigation 
deputies  were  summoned  to  Prague  from  every  circle 
in  the  empire,  to  concert  the  necessary  measures  against 
the  common  danger.  It  was  resolved  to  petition  the 
emperor  to  press  for  the  liberation  of  the  prisoners. 
The  answer  of  the  emperor,  already  offensive  to  the 
states,  from  its  being  addressed,  not  to  them,  but  to  his 
viceroy,  denounced  their  conduct  as  illegal  and  rebellious, 
justified  what  had  been  done  at  Klostergrab  and  Brau- 
nau as  the  result  of  an  imperial  mandate,  and  contained 
some  passages  that  might  be  construed  into  threats. 

Count  Thurn  did  not  fail  to  augment  the  unfavorable 
impression  which  this  imperial  edict  made  upon  the 
assembled  estates.  He  pointed  out  to  them  the  danger 
in  which  all  who  had  signed  the  petition  were  involved, 
and  sought,  by  working  on  their  resentment  and  fears, 
to  hurry  them  into  violent  resolutions.    To  have  caused 


58        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


their  immediate  revolt  against  the  emperor,  would  have 
been,  as  yet,  too  bold  a  measure.  It  was  only  step  by 
step  that  he  would  lead  them  on  to  this  unavoidable  re- 
sult. He  held  it,  therefore,  advisable,  first  to  direct  their 
indignation  against  the  emperor's  counselors;  and  for 
that  purpose  circulated  a  report,  that  the  imperial  proc- 
lamation had  been  drawn  up  by  the  government  at 
Prague,  and  only  signed  in  Vienna.  Among  the  impe- 
rial delegates,  the  chief  objects  of  the  popular  hatred 
were  the  President  of  the  Chamber,  Slawata,  and  Baron 
Martinitz,  who  had  been  elected,  in  place  of  Count 
Thurn,  Burgrave  of  Calstein.  Both  had  long  before 
evinced  pretty  openly  their  hostile  feelings  toward  the 
Protestants,  by  alone  refusing  to  be  present  at  the  sit- 
ting at  which  the  Letter  of  Majesty  had  been  inserted 
in  the  Bohemian  constitution.  A  threat  was  made  at  the 
time  to  make  them  responsible  for  every  violation  of 
the  Letter  of  Majesty;  and  from  this  moment,  what- 
ever evil  befell  the  Protestants  was  set  down,  and  not 
without  reason,  to  their  account.  Of  all  the  Roman 
Catholic  nobles,  these  two  had  treated  their  Protestant 
vassals  with  the  greatest  harshness.  They  were  ac- 
cused of  hunting  them  with  dogs  to  the  mass,  and  of 
endeavoring  to  compel  them  to  popery  by  a  denial  of 
the  rites  of  baptism,  marriage,  and  burial.  Against  two 
characters  so  unpopular,  the  public  indignation  was 
easily  excited,  and  they  were  marked  out  for  a  sacrifice 
to  the  general  indignation. 

On  the  23d  of  May,  1618,  the  deputies  appeared 
armed,  and  in  great  numbers,  at  the  royal  palace,  and 
forced  their  way  into  the  hall  where  the  Commission- 
ers, Steinberg,  Martinitz,  Lobkowitz,  and  Slawata,  were 
assembled.  In  a  threatening  tone  they  demanded  to 
know  from  each  of  them,  whether  he  had  taken  any 
part,  or  had  consented  to,  the  imperial  proclamation. 
Sternberg  received  them  with  composure,  Martinitz 
and  Slawata  with  defiance.  This  decided  their  fate  ; 
Sternberg  and  Lobkowitz,  less  hated,  and  more  feared, 
were  led  by  the  arm  out  of  the  room  :  Martinitz  and 
Slawata  were  seized,  dragged  to  a  window,  and  precip- 
itated from  a  height  of  eighty  feet,  into  the  castle  trench. 
T.K-ii-  creature,  the  secretary  Fabricius,  was  thrown 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


59 


after  them.  This  singular  mode  of  execution  naturally 
excited  the  surprise  of  civilized  nations.  The  Bohe- 
mians justified  it  as  a  national  custom,  and  saw  nothing 
remarkable  in  the  whole  affair,  excepting  that  any  one 
should  have  got  up  again  safe  and  sound  after  such  a 
fall.  A  dunghill,  on  which  the  imperial  commissioners 
chanced  to  be  deposited,  had  saved  them  from  injury. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  this  summary  mode  of 
proceeding  would  much  increase  the  favor  of  the  par- 
ties with  the  emperor,  but  this  was  the  very  position 
to  which  Count  Thurn  wished  to  bring  them.  If,  from 
the  fear  of  uncertain  danger,  they  had  permitted  them- 
selves such  an  act  of  violence,  the  certain  expectation 
of  punishment,  and  the  now  urgent  necessity  for  their 
own  security,  would  plunge  them  still  deeper  into  guilt. 
By  this  brutal  act  of  self-redress,  no  room  was  left  for 
h-resolution  or  repentance,  and  it  seemed  as  if  a  single 
crime  could  be  absolved  only  by  a  series  of  violences. 
As  the  deed  itself  could  not  be  undone,  nothing  was 
left  but  to  disarm  the  hand  of  punishment.  Thirty 
directors  were  appointed  to  organize  a  regular  insurrec- 
tion. They  seized  upon  all  the  offices  of  state,  and  all 
the  imperial  revenues,  took  into  their  own  service  the 
royal  functionaries  and  the  soldiers,  and  summoned  the 
whole  Bohemian  nation  to  avenge  the  common  cause. 
The  Jesuits,  whom  the  common  hatred  accused  as  the 
instigators  of  every  previous  oppression,  were  banished 
the  kingdom,  and  this  harsh  measure  the  estates  found 
it  necessary  to  justify  in  a  formal  manifesto.  These 
various  steps  were  taken  for  the  preservation  of  the 
royal  authority  and  the  laws — the  language  of  all  reb- 
els till  fortune  has  decided  in  their  favor. 

The  emotion  which  the  news  of  the  Bohemian  insur- 
rection excited  at  the  imperial  court,  was  much  less 
lively  than  such  intelligence  deserved.  The  Emperor 
Matthias  was  no  longer  the  resolute  spirit  that  formerly 
sought  out  his  king  and  master  in  the  very  bosom  of  his 
people,  and  hurled  him  from  three  thrones.  The  con- 
fidence and  courage  which  had  animated  him  in  a 
usurpation,  deserted  him  in  a  legitimate  self-defense. 
The  Bohemian  rebels  had  first  taken  up  arms,  and  the 
nature  of  circumstances  drove  him  to  join  them.  But 


GO        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


he  could  not  hope  to  confine  such  a  war  to  Bohemia. 
In  all  the  territories  under  his  dominion,  the  Protes- 
tants were  united  by  a  dangerous  sympathy — the  com- 
mon danger  of  their  religion  might  suddenly  combine 
them  all  into  a  formidable  republic.  What  could  he 
oppose  to  such  an  enemy,  if  the  Protestant  portion  of 
his  subjects  deserted  him  ?  And  would  not  both  par- 
ties exhaust  themselves  in  so  ruinous  a  civil  war  ? 
How  much  was  at  stake  if  he  lost;  and  if  he  won, 
whom  else  would  he  destroy  but  his  own  subjects  ? 

Considerations  such  as  these  inclined  the  emperor 
and  his  council  to  concessions  and  pacific  measures,  but 
it  was  in  this  very  spirit  of  concession  that,  as  others 
would  have  it,  lay  the  origin  of  the  evil.  The  Arch- 
duke Ferdinand,  of  Gratz,  congratulated  the  emperor 
upon  an  event  which  would  justify,  in  the  eyes  of  all 
Europe,  the  severest  measures  against  the  Bohemian 
Protestants.  "  Disobedience,  lawlessness,  and  insur- 
rection," he  said,  "  went  always  hand  in  hand  with 
Protestantism.  Every  privilege  which  had  been  con- 
ceded to  the  estates  by  himself  and  his  predecessor, 
had  had  no  other  effect  than  to  raise  their  demands. 
All  the  measures  of  the  heretics  were  aimed  against 
the  imperial  authority.  Step  by  step  had  they  advan- 
ced from  defiance  to  defiance  up  to  this  last  aggression  ; 
in  a  short  time  they  would  assail  all  that  remained  to 
be  assailed,  in  the  person  of  the  emperor.  In  arms 
alone  was  there  any  safety  against  such  an  enemy — 
peace  and  subordination  could  be  only  established  upon 
the  ruins  of  their  dangerous  privileges  ;  security  for  the 
Catholic  belief  was  to  be  found  only  in  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  this  sect.  Uncertain,  it  was  true,  might  be  the 
event  of  the  war,  but  inevitable  was  the  ruin  if  it  were 
pretermitted.  The  confiscation  of  the  lands  of  the  reb- 
els would  richly  indemnify  them  for  its  expenses,  while 
the  terror  of  punishment  would  teach  the  other  states 
the  wisdom  of  a  prompt  obedience  in  future."  Were 
the  Bohemian  Protestants  to  blame,  if  they  armed 
themselves  in  time  against  the  enforcement  of  such 
maxims  ?  The  insurrection  in  Bohemia,  beside,  was 
directed  only  against  the  successor  of  the  emperor,  not 
against  himself,  who  had  done  nothing  to  justify  the 


SCHILLER*  d  THIRTY   YEARss'   WAR.  61 


alarm  of  the  Protestants.  To  exclude  this  prince  from 
the  Bohemian  throne,  arms  had  before  been  taken  up 
under  Matthias,  though  as  long  as  this  emperor  lived, 
his  subjects  had  kept  within  the  bounds  of  an  apparent 
submission. 

But  Bohemia  was  in  arms,  and,  unarmed,  the  em- 
peror dared  not  even  offer  them  peace.  For  this  pur- 
pose, Spain  supplied  gold,  and  promised  to  send  troops 
from  Italy  and  the  Netherlands.  Count  Bucquoi,  a  na- 
tive of  the  Netherlands,  was  named  generalissimo,  be- 
cause no  native  could  be  trusted,  and  Count  Dampierre, 
another  foreigner,  commanded  under  him.  Before  the 
army  took  the  field,  the  emperor  endeavored  to  bring 
about  an  amicable  arrangement,  by  the  publication  of  a 
manifesto.  In  this  he  assured  the  Bohemians,  "  that 
he  held  sacred  the  Letter  of  Majesty — that  he  had  not 
formed  any  resolutions  inimical  to  their  religion  or  their 
privileges,  and  that  his  present  preparations  were  forced 
upon  him  by  their  own.  As  soon  as  the  nation  laid 
down  their  arms,  he  also  would  disband  his  army." 
But  this  gracious  letter  failed  of  its  effect,  because  the 
leaders  of  the  insurrection  contrived  to  hide  from  the 
people  the  emperor's  good  intentions.  Instead  of  this, 
they  circulated  the  most  alarming  reports  from  the  pul- 
pit, and  by  pamphlets,  and  terrified  the  deluded  popu- 
lace with  threatened  horrors  of  another  Saint  Bartholo- 
mew's that  existed  only  in  their  own  imagination.  All 
Bohemia,  with  the  exception  of  three  towns,  Budweiss, 
Krummau,  and  Pilsen,  took  part  in  this  insurrection. 
These  three  towns,  inhabited  principally  by  Roman 
Catholics,  alone  had  the  courage,  in  this  general  revolt, 
to  hold  out  for  the  emperor,  who  promised  them  assist- 
ance. But  it  could  not  escape  Count  Thum,  how  dan- 
gerous it  was  to  leave  in  hostile  hands  three  places  of 
such  importance,  which  would  at  all  times  keep  open 
for  the  imperial  troops  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom. 
With  prompt  determination  he  appeared  before  Bud- 
weiss and  Krummau,  in  the  hope  of  terrifying  them 
into  a  surrender.  Krummau  surrendered,  but  all  his 
attacks  were  steadfastly  repulsed  by  Budweiss. 

And  now,  too,  the  emperor  began  to  show  more 
earnestness  and  energy.  Bucquoi  and  Dampierre,  with 
F 


62 


Schiller'^  thirty  years'  war. 


two  armies,  fell  upon  the  Bohemian  territories,  which 
they  treated  as  a  hostile  country.  But  the  imperial 
generals  found  the  march  to  Prague  more  difficult  than 
they  had  expected.  Every  pass,  every  position  that 
was  the  least  tenable,  must  be  opened  by  the  sword, 
and  resistance  increased  at  each  fresh  step  they  took, 
for  the  outrages  of  their  troops,  chiefly  consisting  of 
Hungarians  and  Walloons,  drove  their  friends  to  revolt 
and  their  enemies  to  despair.  But  even  now  that  his 
troops  had  penetrated  into  Bohemia,  the  emperor  con- 
tinued to  offer  the  estates  peace,  and  to  show  himself 
ready  for  an  amicable  adjustment.  But  the  new  pros- 
pects which  opened  upon  them  raised  the  courage  of 
the  revolters.  Moravia  espoused  their  party  ;  and  from 
Germany  appeared  to  them  a  defender  equally  intrepid 
and  unexpected,  in  the  person  of  Count  Mansfield. 

The  heads  of  the  Evangelic  Union  had  been  silent 
but  not  inactive  spectators  of  the  movements  in  Bohe- 
mia. Both  were  contending  for  the  same  cause,  and 
against  the  same  enemy.  In  the  fate  of  the  Bohemians, 
their  confederates  in  the  faith  might  read  their  own ; 
and  the  cause  of  this  people  was  represented  as  of  sol- 
emn common  concern  of  the  German  League.  True 
to  these  principles,  the  Unionists  supported  the  courage 
of  the  insurgents  by  promises  of  assistance  ;  and  a  for- 
tunate accident  now  enabled  them,  beyond  their  hopes, 
to  fulfill  them. 

The  instrument  by  which  the  House  of  Austria  was 
humbled  in  Germany,  was  Peter  Ernest,  Count  Mans- 
field, the  son  of  a  distinguished  Austrian  officer,  Ernest 
von  Mansfield,  who  for  some  time  had  commanded  with 
repute  the  Spanish  army  in  the  Netherlands.  His  first 
campaigns  in  Juliers  and  Alsace  had  been  made  in  the 
service  of  this  house,  and  under  the  banner  of  the  Arch- 
duke Leopold,  against  the  Protestant  religion  and  the 
liberties  of  Germany.  But  insensibly  won  by  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  religion,  he  abandoned  a  leader  whose 
selfishness  denied  him  the  reimbursement  of  the  mon- 
eys expended  in  his  cause,  and  he  transferred  his  zeal 
and  a  victorious  sword  to  the  Evangelic  Union.  It  hap- 
pened just  then  that  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  an  ally  of  the 
Union,  demanded  assistance  in  a  war  against  Spain. 


SCHILLERS   THIRTY   YEARS*   WAR.  63 

They  assigned  to  him  their  newly  acquired  servant,  and 
Mansfield  received  instructions  to  raise  an  army  of  four 
thousand  men  in  Germany,  in  the  cause  and  in  the  pay 
of  the  duke.  The  army  was  ready  to  march  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  flames  of  war  burst  out  in  Bohemia, 
and  the  duke,  who  at  the  time  did  not  stand  in  need  of 
its  services,  placed  it  at  the  disposal  of  the  Union. 
Nothing  could  be  more  welcome  to  these  troops  than 
the  prospect  of  aiding  their  confederates  in  Bohemia,  at 
the  cost  of  a  third  party.  Mansfield  received  orders 
forthwith  to  march  with  these  four  thousand  men  into 
that  kingdom  ;  and  a  pretended  Bohemian  commission 
was  given  to  blind  the  public  as  to  the  true  author  of 
this  levy. 

This  Mansfield  now  appeared  in  Bohemia,  and,  by 
the  occupation  of  Pilsen,  strongly  fortified  and  favorable 
to  the  emperor,  obtained  a  firm  footing  in  the  country. 
The  courage  of  the  rebels  was  farther  increased  by 
succors  which  the  Silesian  states  dispatched  to  their 
assistance.  Between  these  and  the  imperialists,  sev- 
eral battles  were  fought,  far,  indeed,  from  decisive,  but 
only  on  that  account  the  more  destructive,  which  serv- 
ed as  the  prelude  to  a  more  serious  war.  To  check 
the  vigor  of  his  military  operations,  a  negotiation  was 
entered  into  with  the  emperor,  and  a  disposition  was 
shown  to  accept  the  proffered  mediation  of  Saxony. 
But  before  the  event  could  prove  how  little  sincerity 
there  was  in  these  proposals,  the  emperor  was  removed 
from  the  scene  by  death. 

What  now  had  Matthias  done  to  justify  the  expecta- 
tions which  he  had  excited  by  the  overthrow  of  his  pred- 
ecessor ?  Was  it  worth  while  to  ascend  a  brother's 
throne  through  guilt,  and  then  maintain  it  with  so  little 
dignity,  and  leave  it  with  so  little  renown  ?  As  long  as 
Matthias  sat  on  the  throne,  he  had  to  atone  for  the  im- 
prudence by  which  he  had  gained  it.  To  enjoy  the 
regal  dignity  a  few  years  sooner,  he  had  shackled  the 
free  exercise  of  its  prerogatives.  The  slender  portion 
of  independence  left  him  by  the  growing  power  of  the 
estates,  was  still  farther  lessened  by  the  encroachments 
of  his  relations.  Sickly  and  childless,  he  saw  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  turned  to  an  ambitious  heir  who  was 


64        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


impatiently  anticipating  his  fate  ;  and  who,  by  his  inter- 
ference with  the  closing  administration,  was  already 
opening  his  own. 

With  Matthias,  the  reigning  line  of  the  German 
House  of  Austria  was  in  a  manner  extinct ;  for  of  all 
the  sons  of  Maximilian,  one  only  was  now  alive,  the 
weak  and  childless  Archduke  Albert,  in  the  Nether- 
lands, who  had  already  renounced  his  claims  to  the 
inheritance  in  favor  of  the  line  of  Gratz.  The  Spanish 
house  had  also,  in  a  secret  bond,  resigned  its  preten- 
sions to  the  Austrian  possessions  in  behalf  of  the  Arch- 
duke Ferdinand,  of  Styria,  in  whom  the  branch  of 
Hapsburg  was  about  to  put  forth  new  shoots,  and  the 
former  greatness  of  Austria  to  experience  a  revival. 

The  father  of  Ferdinand  was  the  Archduke  Charles 
of  Carniola,  Carinthia,  and  Styria,  the  youngest  brother 
of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  II. ;  his  mother  a  princess 
of  Bavaria.  Having  lost  his  father  at  twelve  years  of 
age,  he  was  intrusted  by  the  archduchess  to  the  guard- 
ianship of  her  brother  William,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  under 
whose  eyes  he  was  instructed  and  educated  by  Jesuits 
at  the  Academy  of  Ingolstadt.  What  principles  he  was 
likely  to  imbibe  by  his  intercourse  with  a  prince,  who 
from  motives  of  devotion  had  abdicated  his  government, 
may  be  easily  conceived.  Care  was  taken  to  point  out 
to  him,  on  the  one  hand,  the  weak  indulgence  of  Max- 
imilian's house  toward  the  adherents  of  the  new  doc- 
trines, and  the  consequent  troubles  of  their  dominions  ; 
on  the  other,  the  blessings  of  Bavaria,  and  the  inflexible 
religious  zeal  of  its  rulers :  between  these  two  exam- 
ples he  was  left  to  choose  for  himself. 

Formed  in  this  school  to  be  a  stout  champion  of  the 
faith,  and  a  prompt  instrument  of  the  Church,  he  left 
Bavaria,  after  a  residence  of  five  years,  to  assume  the 
government  of  his  hereditary  dominions.  The  estates 
of  Carniola,  Carinthia,  and  Styria,  who,  before  doing 
homage,  demanded  a  guaranty  for  freedom  of  religion, 
were  told  that  religious  liberty  had  nothing  to  do  with 
their  allegiance.  The  oath  was  put  to  them  without 
conditions,  and  unconditionally  taken.  Many  years, 
however,  elapsed,  ere  the  designs  which  had  been 
planned  at  Ingolstadt  were  ripe  for  execution.  Before 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  65 


attempting  to  carry  them  into  effect,  he  sought  in  per- 
son at  Loretto  the  favor  of  the  Virgin,  and  received  the 
apostolic  benediction  in  Rome  at  the  feet  of  Clement 
VIII. 

These  designs  were  nothing  less  than  the  expulsion 
of  Protestantism  from  a  country  where  it  had  the  advan- 
tage of  numbers,  and  had  been  legally  recognized  by  a 
formal  act  of  toleration,  granted  by  his  father  to  the  no- 
ble and  knightly  estates  of  the  land.  A  grant  so  for- 
mally ratified  could  not  be  revoked  without  danger ;  but 
no  difficulties  could  deter  the  pious  pupil  of  the  Jesuits. 
The  example  of  other  states,  both  Roman  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  which  within  their  own  territories  had  exer- 
cised unquestioned  a  right  of  reformation,  and  the  abuse 
which  the  estates  of  Styria  made  of  their  religious  liber- 
ties, would  serve  as  a  justification  of  this  violent  proced- 
ure. Under  the  shelter  of  an  absurd  positive  law,  those 
of  equity  and  prudence  might,  it  was  thought,  be  safely 
despised.  In  the  execution  of  these  unrighteous  designs, 
Ferdinand  did,  it  must  be  owned,  display  no  common 
courage  and  perseverance.  Without  tumult,  and,  we 
may  add,  without  cruelty,  he  suppressed  the  Protestant 
service  in  one  town  after  another,  and  in  a  few  years,  to 
the  astonishment  of  Germany,  this  dangerous  work  was 
brought  to  a  successful  end. 

But,  while  the  Roman  Catholics  admired  him  as  a 
hero,  and  the  champion  of  the  Church,  the  Protestants 
began  to  combine  against  him  as  against  their  most  dan- 
gerous enemy.  And  yet  Matthias's  intention  to  bequeath 
to  him  the  succession,  met  with  little  or  no  opposition  in 
the  elective  states  of  Austria.  Even  the  Bohemians 
agreed  to  receive  him  as  their  future  king,  on  very  favor- 
able conditions.  It  was  not  until  afterward,  when  they 
had  experienced  the  pernicious  influence  of  his  councils 
on  the  administration  of  the  emperor,  that  their  anxiety 
was  first  excited  ;  and  then  several  projects,  in  his  hand- 
writing, which  unlucky  chance  threw  into  their  hands, 
as  they  plainly  evinced  his  disposition  toward  them,  car- 
ried their  apprehensions  to  the  utmost  pitch.  In  particu- 
lar, they  were  alarmed  by  a  secret  family  compact  with 
Spain,  by  which,  in  default  of  heirs-male  of  his  own  body, 
Ferdinand  bequeathed  to  that  crown  the  kingdom  of 
5  F  2 


66        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Bohemia,  without  first  consulting  the  wishes  of  that  na- 
tion, and  without  regard  to  its  right  of  free  election. 
The  many  enemies,  too,  which  by  his  reforms  in  Styria 
that  prince  had  provoked  among  the  Protestants,  were 
very  prejudicial  to  his  interests  in  Bohemia  ;  and  some 
Styrian  emigrants,  who  had  taken  refuge  there,  bring- 
ing with  them  into  their  adopted  country  hearts  over- 
flowing with  a  desire  of  revenge,  were  particularly  active 
in  exciting  the  flame  of  revolt.  Thus  ill-affected  did 
Ferdinand  find  the  Bohemians,  when  he  succeeded 
Matthias. 

So  bad  an  understanding  between  the  nation  and  the 
candidate  for  the  throne  would  have  raised  a  storm  even 
in  the  most  peaceable  succession ;  how  much  more  so 
at  the  present  moment,  before  the  ardor  of  insurrection 
had  cooled ;  when  the  nation  had  just  recovered  its  dig- 
nity, and  reasserted  its  rights ;  when  they  still  held 
arms  in  their  hands,  and  the  consciousness  of  unity  had 
awakened  an  enthusiastic  reliance  on  their  own  strength ; 
when,  by  past  success,  by  the  promises  of  foreign  assist- 
ance, and  by  visionary  expectations  of  the  future,  their 
courage  had  been  raised  to  an  undoubting  confidence. 
Disregarding  the  rights  already  conferred  on  Ferdinand, 
the  estates  declared  the  throne  vacant,  and  their  right  of 
election  entirely  unfettered.  All  hopes  of  their  peaceful 
submission  were  at  an  end,  and  if  Ferdinand  wished  still 
to  wear  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  he  must  choose  between 
purchasing  it  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  that  would  make  a 
crown  desirable,  or  winning  it  sword  in  hand. 

But  with  what  means  was  it  to  be  won  ?  Turn  his 
eyes  where  he  would,  the  fire  of  revolt  was  burning. 
Silesia  had  already  joined  the  insurgents  in  Bohemia; 
Moravia  was  on  the  point  of  following  its  example.  In 
Upper  and  Lower  Austria  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  awake, 
as  it  had  been  under  Rodolph,  and  the  estates  refused  to 
do  homage.  Hungary  was  menaced  with  an  inroad  by 
Prince  Bethlem  Gabor,  on  the  side  of  Transylvania ;  a 
secret  arming  among  the  Turks  spread  consternation 
among  the  provinces  to  the  eastward ;  and,  to  complete 
his  perplexities,  in  his  hereditary  dominions,  the  Protes- 
tants also,  stimulated  by  the  general  example,  were 
again  raising  their  heads.    In  that  quarter,  their  cum- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


67 


bers  were  overwhelming ;  in  most  places  they  had  pos- 
session of  the  revenues  which  Ferdinand  would  need 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  war.  The  neutral  began  to 
waver,  the  faithful  to  be  discouraged,  the  turbulent  alone 
to  be  animated  and  confident.  One  half  of  Germany  en- 
couraged the  rebels,  the  other  inactively  awaited  the 
issue  ;  Spanish  assistance  was  still  very  remote.  The 
moment  which  had  brought  him  every  thing,  threatened 
also  to  deprive  him  of  all. 

And  when  he  now,  yielding  to  the  stern  law  of  ne- 
cessity, made  overtures  to  the  Bohemian  rebels,  all  his 
proposals  for  peace  were  insolently  rejected.  Count 
Thurn,  at  the  head  of  an  army,  entered  Moravia  to 
bring  this  province,  which  alone  continued  to  waver,  to 
a  decision.  The  appearance  of  their  friends  is  the  sig- 
nal of  revolt  for  the  Moravian  Protestants.  Brünn  is 
taken,  the  remainder  of  the  country  yields  with  free  will, 
throughout  the  province  government  and  religion  are 
changed.  Swelling  as  it  flows,  the  torrent  of  rebellion 
pours  down  upon  Austria  where  a  party,  holding  simi- 
lar sentiments,  receives  it  with  a  joyful  concurrence. 
Henceforth,  there  should  be  no  more  distinctions  of  re- 
ligion ;  equality  of  rights  should  be  guarantied  to  all 
Christian  churches.  They  hear  that  a  foreign  force  has 
been  invited  into  the  country  to  oppress  the  Bohemians. 
Let  them  be  sought  out,  and  the  enemies  of  liberty  pur- 
sued to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Not  an  arm  is  raised  in 
defense  of  the  archduke,  and  the  rebels,  at  length,  en- 
camp before  Vienna  to  besiege  their  sovereign. 

Ferdinand  had  sent  his  children  from  Grätz,  where 
they  were  no  longer  safe,  to  the  Tyrol ;  he  himself 
awaited  the  insurgents  in  his  capital.  A  handful  of  sol- 
diers was  all  he  could  oppose  to  the  enraged  multitude  ; 
these  few  were  without  pay  or  provisions,  and  therefore 
little  to  be  depended  on.  Vienna  was  unprepared  for 
a  long  siege.  The  party  of  the  Protestants,  ready  at  any 
moment  to  join  the  Bohemians,  had  the  preponderance 
in  the  city ;  those  in  the  country  had  already  begun  to 
levy  troops  against  her.  Already,  in  imagination,  the 
Protestant  populace  saw  the  emperor  shut  up  in  a 
monastery,  his  territories  divided,  and  his  children  edu- 
cated as  Protestants.  Confiding  in  secret,  and  surrounded 


68 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


by  public  enemies,  he  saw  the  chasm  every  moment 
widening  to  engulf  his  hopes  and  even  himself.  The 
Bohemian  bullets  were  already  falling  upon  the  imperial 
palace,  when  sixteen  Austrian  barons  forcibly  entered 
his  chamber,  and  inveighing  against  him  with  loud  and 
bitter  reproaches,  endeavored  to  force  him  into  a  con- 
federation with  the  Bohemians.  One  of  them,  seizing 
him  by  the  button  of  his  doublet,  demanded,  in  a  tone  of 
menace,  "  Ferdinand,  wilt  thou  sign  it?" 

Who  would  not  be  pardoned  had  he  wavered  in  this 
frightful  situation  ?  Yet  Ferdinand  still  remembered  the 
dignity  of  a  Roman  emperor.  No  alternative  seemed  left 
to  him  but  an  immediate  flight  or  submission  ;  laymen 
urged  him  to  the  one,  priests  to  the  other.  If  he  aban- 
doned the  city,  it  would  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands ; 
with  Vienna,  Austria  was  lost;  with  Austria,  the  impe- 
rial throne.  Ferdinand  abandoned  not  his  capital,  and 
as  little  would  he  hear  of  conditions. 

The  archduke  is  still  engaged  in  altercation  with  the 
deputed  barons,  when  all  at  once  a  sound  of  trumpets  is 
heard  in  the  palace  square.  Terror  and  astonishment 
take  possession  of  all  present ;  a  fearful  report  pervades 
the  palace  ;  one  deputy  after  another  disappears.  Many 
of  the  nobility  and  citizens  hastily  take  refuge  in  the 
camp  of  Thurn.  This  sudden  change  is  effected  by  a 
regiment  of  Dampierre's  cuirassiers,  who  at  that  moment 
marched  into  the  city  to  defend  the  archduke.  A  body 
of  infantry  soon  followed ;  reassured  by  their  appear- 
ance, several  of  the  Roman  Catholic  citizens,  and  even 
the  students  themselves,  take  up  arms.  A  report  which 
arrived  just  at  the  same  time  from  Bohemia,  made  his 
deliverance  complete.  The  Flemish  general,  Bucquoi, 
had  totally  defeated  Count  Mansfeld  at  Budweiss,  and 
was  marching  upon  Prague.  The  Bohemians  hastily 
broke  up  their  camp  before  Vienna,  to  protect  their  own 
capital. 

And  now  also  the  passes  were  free  which  the  enemy 
had  taken  possession  of,  in  order  to  obstruct  Ferdinand's 
progress  to  his  coronation  at  Frankfort.  If  the  acces- 
sion to  the  imperial  throne  was  important  for  the  plans 
of  the  King  of  Hungary,  it  was  of  still  greater  conse- 
quence at  the  present  moment,  when  his  nomination  as 


SCHILLEF.'s   THIRTY   YE  ABS*  WAR.  69 

emperor  would  aftbrd  the  most  unsuspicious  and  decisive 
proof  of  the  dignity  of  his  person,  and  of  the  justice  of 
his  cause,  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  would  give  him  a 
hope  of  support  from  the  empire.  But  the  same  cabal 
which  opposed  him  in  his  hereditary  dominions,  labored 
also  to  counteract  him  in  his  canvass  for  the  imperial  dig- 
nity. No  Austrian  prince,  they  maintained,  ought  to 
ascend  the  throne  ;  least  of  all  Ferdinand,  the  bigoted 
persecutor  of  their  religion,  the  slave  of  Spain  and  of 
the  Jesuits.  To  prevent  this,  the  crown  had  been  offered, 
even  during  the  lifetime  of  Matthias,  to  the  Duke  of  Ba- 
varia, and  on  his  refusal,  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  As  some 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  settling  with  the  latter  the 
conditions  of  acceptance,  it  was  sought,  at  all  events,  to 
delay  the  election  till  some  decisive  blow  in  Austria  or 
Bohemia  should  annihilate  all  the  hopes  of  Ferdinand, 
and  incapacitate  him  from  any  competition  for  this  dig- 
nity. The  members  of  the  Union  left  no  stone  unturned 
to  gain  over  from  Ferdinand  the  Electorate  of  Saxony, 
which  was  bound  to  Austrian  interests ;  they  repre- 
sented to  this  court  the  dangers  with  which  the  Protes- 
tant religion,  and  even  the  constitution  of  the  empire, 
were  threatened  by  the  principles  of  this  prince  and  his 
Spanish  alliance.  By  the  elevation  of  Ferdinand  to  the 
imperial  throne,  Germany,  they  further  asserted,  would 
be  involved  in  the  private  quarrels  of  this  prince,  and 
bring  upon  itself  the  arms  of  Bohemia.  But  in  spite  of 
all  opposing  influences,  the  day  of  election  wTas  fixed, 
Ferdinand  summoned  to  it  as  lawful  king  of  Bohemia, 
and  his  electoral  vote,  after  a  fruitless  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  Bohemian  estates,  acknowledged  to  be 
good.  The  votes  of  the  three  ecclesiastical  electorates 
were  for  him,  Saxony  was  favorable  to  him,  Brandenburg 
made  no  opposition,  and  a  decided  majority  declared  him 
emperor  in  1619.  Thus  he  saw  the  most  doubtful  of 
his  crowns  placed  first  of  all  on  his  head  ;  but  a  few  days 
after  he  lost  that  which  he  had  reckoned  among  the  most 
certain  of  his  possessions.  While  he  was  thus  elected 
emperor  in  Frankfort,  he  was  in  Prague  deprived  of  the 
Bohemian  throne. 

Almost  all  of  his  German  hereditary  dominions  had  in 
the  mean  time  entered  into  a  formidable  league  with  the 


70        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

Bohemians,  whose  insolence  now  exceeded  all  bounds. 
In  a  general  Diet,  the  latter,  on  the  17th  of  August, 
1G19,  proclaimed  the  emperor  an  enemy  to  the  Bohe- 
mian religion  and  liberties,  who  by  his  pernicious  coun- 
sels had  alienated  from  them  the  affections  of  the  late 
emperor,  had  furnished  troops  to  oppress  them,  had 
given  their  country  as  a  prey  to  foreigners,  and  finally, 
in  contravention  of  the  national  rights,  had  bequeathed 
the  crown,  by  a  secret  compact,  to  Spain  :  they  there- 
fore declared  that  he  had  forfeited  whatever  title  he 
might  otherwise  have  had  to  the  crown,  and  immediately 
proceeded  to  a  new  election.  As  this  sentence  was  pro- 
nounced by  Protestants,  their  choice  could  not  well  foil 
upon  a  Roman  Catholic  prince,  though,  to  save  appear- 
ances, some  voices  were  raised  for  Bavaria  and  Savoy. 
But  the  violent  religious  animosities  which  divided  the 
evangelical  and  the  reformed  parties  among  the  Protes- 
tants, impeded  for  some  time  the  election  even  of  a 
Protestant  king;  till  at  last  the  address  and  activity  of 
the  Calvinists  carried  the  day  from  the  numerical  supe- 
riority of  the  Lutherans. 

Among  all  the  princes  who  were  competitors  for  this 
dignity,  the  Elector  Palatine  Frederick  V.  had  the  best 
grounded  claims  on  the  confidence  and  gratitude  of  the 
Bohemians ;  and  among  them  all,  there  was  no  one  in 
whose  case  the  private  interests  of  particular  estates,  and 
the  attachment  of  the  people,  seemed  to  be  justified  by 
so  many  considerations  of  state.  Frederick  V.  was  of 
a  free  and  lively  spirit,  of  great  goodness  of  heart,  and 
regal  liberality.  He  was  the  head  of  the  Calvinistic  paity 
in  Germany,  the  leader  of  the  Union,  whose  resources 
were  at  his  disposal,  a  near  relation  of  the  Duke  of  Ba- 
varia, and  a  son-in-law  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  who 
might  lend  him  his  powerful  support.  All  these  con- 
siderations were  prominently  and  successfully  brought 
forward  by  the  Calvinists,  and  Frederick  V.  was  chosen 
king  by  the  Assembly  at  Prague,  amid  prayers  and 
tears  of  joy. 

The  whole  proceedings  of  the  Diet  at  Prague  had 
been  premeditated,  and  Frederick  himself  had  taken  too 
active  a  share  in  the  matter  to  feel  at  all  surprised  at  the 
offer  made  to  him  by  the  Bohemians.   But  now  the  im- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  71 

mediate  glitter  of  this  throne  dazzled  him,  and  the  mag- 
nitude both  of  his  elevation  and  his  delinquency  made 
his  weak  mind  to  tremble.  After  the  usual  manner  of 
pusillanimous  spirits,  he  sought  to  confirm  himself  in  his 
purpose  by  the  opinions  of  others  ;  but  these  opinions 
had  no  weight  with  him  when  they  ran  counter  to  his 
own  cherished  wishes.  Saxony  and  Bavaria,  of  whom 
he  sought  advice,  all  his  brother  electors,  all  who  com- 
pared the  magnitude  of  the  design  with  his  capacities 
and  resources,  warned  him  of  the  danger  into  which  he 
was  about  to  rush.  Even  King  James  of  England  pre- 
ferred to  see  his  son-in-law  deprived  of  this  crown,  than 
that  the  sacred  majesty  of  kings  should  be  outraged  by 
so  dangerous  a  precedent.  But  of  what  avail  was  the 
voice  of  prudence  against  the  seductive  glitter  of  a 
crown  ?  In  the  moment  of  boldest  determination,  when 
they  are  indignantly  rejecting  the  consecrated  branch  of 
a  race  which  had  governed  them  for  two  centuries,  a 
free  people  throws  itself  into  his  arms.  Confiding  in  his 
courage,  they  choose  him  as  their  leader  in  the  danger- 
ous career  of  glory  and  liberty.  To  him,  as  to  its  born 
champion,  an  oppressed  religion  looks  for  shelter  and 
support  against  its  persecutors.  Could  he  have  the 
weakness  to  listen  to  his  fears,  and  to  betray  the  cause 
of  religion  and  liberty  ?  This  religion  proclaims  to  him 
its  owu  preponderance,  and  the  weakness  of  its  rival — 
two  thirds  of  the  power  of  Austria  are  now  in  arms 
against  Austria  itself,  while  a  formidable  confederacy, 
already  formed  in  Transylvania,  would,  by  a  hostile  at- 
tack, further  distract  even  the  weak  remnant  of  its 
power.  Could  inducements  such  as  these  fail  to  awaken 
his  ambition,  or  such  hopes  to  animate  and  inflame  his 
resolution  ? 

A  few  moments  of  calm  consideration  would  have 
sufficed  to  show  the  danger  of  the  undertaking,  and  the 
comparative  worthlessness  of  the  prize.  But  the  temp- 
tation spoke  to  his  feelings ;  the  warning  only  to  his  rea- 
son. It  was  his  misfortune  that  his  nearest  and  most 
influential  counselors  espoused  the  side  of  his  passions. 
The  aggrandizement  of  their  master's  power  opened  to 
the  ambition  and  avarice  of  his  Palatine  servants  an 
unlimited  field  for  their  gratification  ;  this  anticipated 


SCHILLERE   THIRTY   YEAR*'  WAR. 


triumph  of  their  church  kindled  the  ardor  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  fanatics.  Could  a  mind  so  weak  as  that  of  Fer- 
dinand resist  the  delusions  of  his  counselors,  who  ex- 
aggerated his  resources  and  his  strength,  as  much  as 
they  underrated  those  of  his  enemies  ;  or  the  exhorta- 
tions of  his  preachers,  who  announced  the  effusions  of 
their  fanatical  zeal  as  the  immediate  inspiration  of 
heaven  ?  The  dreams  of  astrology  filled  his  mind  with 
visionary  hopes ;  even  love  conspired,  with  its  irresist- 
ible fascination,  to  complete  the  seduction.  "  Had  you," 
demanded  the  electress,  "confidence  enough  in  your- 
self to  accept  the  hand  of  a  king's  daughter,  and  have 
you  misgivings  about  taking  a  crown  which  is  volunta- 
rily offered  you  ?  I  would  rather  eat  bread  at  thy  kingly 
table,  than  feast  at  thy  electoral  board." 

Frederick  accepted  the  Bohemian  crown.  The  cor- 
onation was  celebrated  with  unexampled  pomp  at  Prague, 
for  the  nation  displayed  all  its  riches  in  honor  of  its  own 
work.  Silesia  and  Moravia,  the  adjoining  provinces  to 
Bohemia,  followed  their  example,  and  did  homage  to 
Frederick.  The  reformed  faith  was  enthroned  in  all 
the  churches  of  the  kingdom ;  the  rejoicings  were  un- 
bounded, their  attachment  to  their  new  king  bordered 
on  adoration.  Denmark  and  Sweden,  Holland  and 
Venice,  and  several  of  the  Dutch  states,  acknowledged 
him  as  lawful  sovereign,  and  Frederick  now  prepared 
to  maintain  his  new  acquisition. 

His  principal  hopes  rested  on  Prince  Bethlem  Gabor 
of  Transylvania.  This  formidable  enemy  of  Austria, 
and  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  not  content  with  the 
principality  which,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Turks,  he 
had  wrested  from  his  legitimate  prince,  Gabriel  Bathosi, 
gladly  seized  this  opportunity  of  aggrandizing  himself 
at  the  expense  of  Austria,  which  had  hesitated  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  sovereign  of  Transylvania.  An  attack 
upon  Hungary  and  Austria  was  concerted  with  the  Bo- 
hemian rebels,  and  both  armies  were  to  unite  before 
the  capital.  Meantime,  Bethlem  Gabor,  under  the 
mask  of  friendship,  disguised  the  true  object  of  his  war- 
like preparations,  artfully  promising  the  emperor  to  lure 
the  Bohemians  into  the  toils,  by  a  pretended  offer  of 
assistance,  and  to  deliver  up  to  him  alive  the  leaders  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


73 


the  insurrection.  All  at  once,  however,  he  appeared 
in  a  hostile  attitude  in  Upper  Hungary.  Before  him 
went  terror,  and  devastation  behind ;  all  opposition 
yielded,  and,  at  Presburg,  he  received  the  Hungarian 
crown.  The  emperor's  brother,  who  governed  in  Vi- 
enna, trembled  for  the  capital.  He  hastily  summoned 
General  Bucquoi  to  his  assistance,  and  the  retreat  of 
the  imperialists  drew  the  Bohemians,  a  second  time,  be- 
fore the  walls  of  Vienna.  Reinforced  by  twelve  thou- 
sand Transylvanians,  and  soon  after  joined  by  the  vic- 
torious army  of  Bethlem  Gabor,  they  again  menaced 
the  capital  with  assault ;  all  the  country  round  Vienna 
was  laid  waste,  the  navigation  of  the  Danube  closed,  all 
supplies  cut  off,  and  the  horrors  of  famine  were  threat- 
ened. Ferdinand,  hastily  recalled  to  his  capital  by  this 
urgent  danger,  saw  himself  a  second  time  on  the  brink 
of  ruin.  But  want  of  provisions,  and  the  inclement 
weather,  finally  compelled  the  Bohemians  to  go  into 
quarters,  a  defeat  in  Hungary  recalled  Bethlem  Gabor, 
and  thus  once  more  had  fortune  rescued  the  emperor. 

In  a  few  weeks  the  scene  was  changed,  and  by  his 
prudence  and  activity,  Ferdinand  improved  his  position 
as  rapidly  as  Frederick,  by  indolence  and  impolicy, 
ruined  his.  The  estates  of  Lower  Austria  were  re- 
gained to  their  allegiance  by  a  confirmation  of  their  priv- 
ileges ;  and  the  few  who  still  held  out  were  declared 
guilty  of  Vese-majeste,  and  high  treason.  During  the 
election  of  Frankfort,  he  had  contrived,  by  personal  rep- 
resentations, to  win  over  to  his  cause  the  ecclesiastical 
electors,  and  also  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  at  Mu- 
nich. The  whole  issue  of  the  war,  the  fate  of  Fred- 
erick and  the  emperor,  were  now  dependent  on  the 
part  which  the  Union  and  the  League  should  take  in 
the  troubles  of  Bohemia.  It  was  evidently  of  impor- 
tance to  all  the  Protestants  of  Germany  that  the  King 
of  Bohemia  should  be  supported,  while  it  was  equally 
the  interest  of  the  Roman  Catholics  to  prevent  the  ruin 
of  the  emperor.  If  the  Protestants  succeeded  in  Bohe- 
mia, all  the  Roman  Catholic  princes  in  Germany  might 
tremble  for  their  possessions  ;  if  they  failed,  the  em- 
peror would  give  laws  to  Protestant  Germany.  Thus 
Ferdinand  put  the  League,  Frederick  the  Union,  in 


74 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


motion.  The  ties  of  relationship  and  a  personal  attach- 
ment to  the  emperor,  his  brother-in-law,  with  whom  he 
had  been  educated  at  Ingolstadt,  zeal  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  which  seemed  to  be  in  the  most  immi- 
nent peril,  and  the  suggestions  of  the  Jesuits,  combined 
with  the  suspicious  movements  of  the  Union,  moved 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  all  the  princes  of  the  League, 
to  make  the  cause  of  Ferdinand  their  own. 

According  to  the  terms  of  a  treaty  with  the  emperor, 
which  assured  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  compensation  for 
all  the  expenses  of  the  war,  or  the  losses  he  might  sus- 
tain, Maximilian  took,  with  full  powers,  the  command 
of  the  troops  of  the  League,  which  were  ordered  to 
march  to  the  assistance  of  the  emperor  against  the  Bo- 
hemian rebels.  The  leaders  of  the  Union,  instead  of 
delaying  by  every  means  this  dangerous  coalition  of  the 
League  with  the  emperor,  did  every  thing  in  their 
power  to  accelerate  it.  Could  they,  they  thought,  but 
once  drive  the  Roman  Catholic  League  to  take  an  open 
part  in  the  Bohemian  war,  they  might  reckon  on  similar 
measures  from  all  the  members  and  allies  of  the  Union. 
Without  some  open  step  taken  by  the  Roman  Catholics 
against  the  Union,  no  effectual  confederacy  of  the  Prot- 
estant powers  was  to  be  looked  for.  They  seized,  there- 
fore, the  present  emergency  of  the  troubles  in  Bohemia 
to  demand  from  the  Roman  Catholics  the  abolition  of 
their  past  grievances,  and  full  security  for  the  future  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion.  They  addressed  this  demand, 
which  was,  moreover,  couched  in  threatening  language, 
to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  as  the  head  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  and  they  insisted  on  an  immediate  and  cate- 
gorical answer.  Maximilian  might  decide  for  or  against 
them,  still  their  point  was  gained  ;  his  concession,  if  he 
yielded,  wTould  deprive  the  Roman  Catholic  party  of 
its  most  powerful  protector  ;  his  refusal  would  arm  the 
whole  Protestant  party,  and  render  inevitable  a  war  in 
which  they  hoped  to  be  the  conquerors.  Maximilian, 
firmly  attached  to  the  opposite  party  from  so  many  other 
considerations,  took  the  demands  of  the  Union  as  a  for- 
mal declaration  of  hostilities,  and  quickened  his  prep- 
arations. While  Bavaria  and  the  League  were  thus 
arming  in  the  emperor's  cause,  negotiations  for  a  subsidy 


bchiller's  thirty  years'  war.  75 

were  opened  with  the  Spanish  court.  All  the  diffical- 
ties  with  which  the  indolent  policy  of  that  ministry  met 
this  demand  were  happily  surmounted  by  the  imperial 
ambassador  at  Madrid,  Count  Khevenhuller.  In  addition 
to  a  subsidy  of  a  million  of  florins,  which,  from  time  to 
time,  were  doled  out  by  this  court,  an  attack  upon  the 
Lower  Palatinate,  from  the  side  of  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands, was  at  the  same  time  agreed  upon. 

During  these  attempts  to  draw  all  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic powers  into  the  League,  the  Protestants  labored 
with  equal  activity  to  cement  their  confederacy.  To 
this  end,  it  was  important  to  alarm  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
and  the  other  Evangelical  powers,  and  acccordingly  the 
Union  were  diligent  in  propagating  a  rumor  that  the 
preparations  of  the  League  had  for  their  object  to  de- 
prive them  of  the  ecclesiastical  foundations  they  had 
secularized.  A  written  assurance  to  the  contrary  calmed 
the  fears  of  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  whom,  moreover,  pri- 
vate jealousy  of  the  Palatine,  and  the  insinuations  of  his 
chaplain,  who  was  in  the  pay  of  Austria,  and  mortifica- 
tion at  having  been  passed  over  by  the  Bohemians  in 
the  election  to  the  throne,  strongly  inclined  to  the  side 
of  Austria.  The  fanaticism  of  the  Lutherans  could 
never  forgive  the  reformed  party  for  having  drawn,  as 
they  expressed  it,  so  many  fair  provinces  into  the  gulf 
of  Calvinism,  and  rejecting  the  Roman  Antichrist  only 
to  make  way  for  an  Helvetian  one. 

While  Ferdinand  used  every  effort  to  improve  the 
unfavorable  situation  of  his  affairs,  Frederick  was  daily 
injuring  his  good  cause.  By  his  close  and  questionable 
connection  with  the  Prince  of  Transylvania,  the  open 
ally  of  the  Porte,  he  gave  offense  to  weak  minds ;  and 
a  general  rumor  accused  him  of  furthering  his  own  am- 
bition at  the  expense  of  Christendom,  and  arming  the 
Turks  against  Germany.  His  inconsiderate  zeal  for  the 
Calvinistic  scheme  irritated  the  Lutherans  of  Bohemia, 
his  attacks  on  image-worship  incensed  the  papists  of 
this  kingdom  against  him.  New  and  oppressive  imposts 
alienated  the  affections  of  all  his  subjects.  The  disap- 
pointed hopes  of  the  Bohemian  nobles  cooled  their  zeal ; 
the  absence  of  foreign  succor  abated  their  confidence. 
Instead  of  devoting  himself  with  untiring  energies  to  the 


76 


schillere  thirty  years'  war. 


affairs  of  his  kingdom,  Frederick  wasted  his  time  in 
amusements :  instead  of  filling  his  treasury  by  a  wise 
economy,  he  squandered  his  revenues  by  a  needless 
theatrical  pomp  and  a  misplaced  munificence.  With  a 
light-minded  carelessness,  he  did  but  gaze  at  himself 
in  his  new  dignity,  and  in  the  ill-timed  desire  to  enjoy 
his  crown,  he  forgot  the  more  pressing  duty  of  securing 
it  on  his  head. 

But  greatly  as  men  had  erred  in  their  opinion  of  him, 
Frederick  himself  had  not  less  miscalculated  his  foreign 
resources.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  Union  consid- 
ered the  affairs  of  Bohemia  as  foreign  to  the  real  object 
of  their  confederacy  ;  others,  who  were  devoted  to  him, 
were  overawed  by  fear  of  the  emperor.  Saxony  and 
Hesse  Darmstadt  had  already  been  gained  over  by  Fer- 
dinand ;  Lower  Austria,  on  which  side  a  powerful 
diversion  had  been  looked  for,  had  made  its  submission 
to  the  emperor ;  and  Bethlem  Gabor  had  concluded  a 
truce  with  him.  By  its  embassies,  the  court  of  Vienna 
had  induced  Denmark  to  remain  inactive,  and  to  occupy 
Sweden  in  a  war  with  the  Poles.  The  republic  of  Hol- 
land had  enough  to  do  to  defend  itself  against  the  arms  of 
the  Spaniards  ;  Venice  and  Saxony  remained  inactive  ; 
King  James  of  England  was  overreached  by  the  artifice 
of  Spain.  One  friend  after  another  withdrew;  one 
hope  vanished  after  another — so  rapidly  in  a  few  months 
was  every  thing  changed. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  leaders  of  the  Union  assembled 
an  army;  the  emperor  and  the  League  did  the  same  : 
the  troops  of  the  latter  were  assembled  under  the  ban- 
ners of  Maximilian  at  Donauwerth,  those  of  the  Union 
at  Ulm,  under  the  Margrave  of  Anspach.  The  decisive 
moment  seemed  at  length  to  have  arrived  which  was  to 
end  these  long  dissensions  by  a  vigorous  blow,  and  irrev- 
ocably to  settle  the  relation  of  the  two  churches  in  Ger- 
many. Anxiously  on  the  stretch  was  the  expectation 
of  both  parties.  How  great  then  was  their  astonishment 
when  suddenly  the  intelligence  of  peace  arrived,  and 
both  armies  separated  without  striking  a  blow ! 

The  intervention  of  France  effected  this  peace,  wbich 
was  equally  acceptable  to  both  parties.  1  he  French 
cabinet,  no  longer  swayed  by  tho  i  ou^sels  of  Henry  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


77 


Great,  and  whose  maxims  of  state  were,  perhaps,  not 
applicable  to  the  present  condition  of  that  kingdom,  was 
now  far  less  alarmed  at  the  preponderance  of  Austria, 
than  of  the  increase  which  would  accrue  to  the  strength 
of  the  Calvinists,  if  the  Palatine  house  should  be  able 
to  retain  the  throne  of  Bohemia.  Involved  at  the  time 
in  a  dangerous  conflict  with  its  own  Calviuistic  subjects, 
it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  France  that  the 
Protestant  faction  in  Bohemia  should  be  suppressed  be- 
fore the  Huguenots  could  copy  their  dangerous  example. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  facilitate  the  emperor's  operations 
against  the  Bohemians,  she  offered  her  mediation  to  the 
Union  and  the  League,  and  effected  this  unexpected 
treaty,  of  which  the  main  article  was,  "  That  the  Union 
should  abandon  all  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Bohe- 
mia, and  confine  the  aid  which  they  might  afford  to 
Frederick  V.,  to  his  Palatine  territories."  To  this  dis- 
graceful treaty,  the  Union  were  moved  by  the  firmness 
of  Maximilian,  and  the  fear  of  being  pressed  at  once  by 
the  troops  of  the  League,  and  a  new  imperial  army 
which  was  on  its  march  from  the  Netherlands. 

The  whole  force  of  Bavaria  and  the  League  was  now 
at  the  disposal  of  the  emperor  to  be  employed  against 
the  Bohemians,  who,  by  the  pacification  of  Ulm,  were 
abandoned  to  their  fate.  With  a  rapid  movement,  and 
before  a  rumor  of  the  proceedings  at  Ulm  could  reach 
there,  Maximilian  appeared  in  Upper  Austria,  when  the 
estates,  surprised  and  unprepared  for  an  enemy,  pur- 
chased the  emperor's  pardon  by  an  immediate  and  un- 
conditional submission.  In  Lower  Austria,  the  duke 
formed  a  junction  with  the  troops  from  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, under  Bucquoi,  and  without  loss  of  time  the  united 
imperial  and  Bavarian  forces,  amounting  to  fifty  thousand 
men,  entered  Bohemia.  All  the  Bohemian  troops,  which 
were  dispersed  over  Lower  Austria  and  Moravia,  were 
driven  before  them ;  every  town  which  attempted  re- 
sistance was  quickly  taken  by  storm  ;  others,  terrified 
by  the  report  of  the  punishment  inflicted  on  these,  vol- 
untarily opened  their  gates ;  nothing,  in  short,  inter- 
rupted the  impetuous  career  of  Maximilian.  The  Bo- 
hemian army,  commanded  by  the  brave  Prince  Christian 
of  Anhalt,  retreated  to  the  neighborhood  of  Prague ; 
g2 


78        schillek's  thirty  years'  war. 


where,  under  the  walls  of  the  city,  Maximilian  offered 
him  battle. 

The  wretched  condition  in  which  he  hoped  to  sur- 
prise the  insurgents  justified  the  rapidity  of  the  duke's 
movements,  and  secured  him  the  victory.  Frederick's 
army  did  not  amount  to  thirty  thousand  men.  Eight  thou- 
sand of  these  were  furnished  by  the  Prince  of  Anhalt ; 
ten  thousand  were  Hungarians,  whom  Bethlem  Gabor 
had  dispatched  to  his  assistance.  An  inroad  of  the  Elec- 
tor of  Saxony  upon  Lusatia  had  cut  off  all  succors  from 
that  country,  and  from  Silesia ;  the  pacification  of  Aus- 
tria put  an  end  to  all  his  expectations  from  that  quarter  ; 
Bethlem  Gabor,  his  most  powerful  ally,  remained  inac- 
tive in  Transylvania  ;  the  Union  had  betrayed  his  cause 
to  the  emperor.  Nothing  remained  to  him  but  his  Bo- 
hemians; and  they  were  without  good-will  to  his  cause, 
and  without  unity  and  courage.  The  Bohemian  mag- 
nates were  indignant  that  German  generals  should  be 
put  over  their  heads ;  Count  Mansfeld  remained  in  Pil- 
sen, at  a  distance  from  the  camp,  to  avoid  the  mortifi- 
cation of  serving  under  Anhalt  and  Hohenlohe.  The 
soldiers,  in  want  of  necessaries,  became  dispirited  ;  and 
the  little  discipline  that  was  observed,  gave  occasion  to 
bitter  complaints  from  the  peasantry.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Frederick  made  his  appearance  in  the  camp,  in 
the  hope  of  reviving  the  courage  of  the  soldiers  by  his 
presence,  and  of  kindling  the  emulation  of  the  nobles  by 
his  example. 

The  Bohemians  had  begun  to  intrench  themselves 
on  the  White  Mountain  near  Prague,  when  they  were 
attacked  by  the  imperial  and  Bavarian  armies,  on  the 
8th  of  November,  1620.  In  the  beginning  of  the  action, 
some  advantages  were  gained  by  the  cavalry  of  the 
Prince  of  Anhalt ;  but  the  superior  numbers  of  the 
enemy  soon  neutralized  them.  The  charge  of  the  Ba- 
varians and  Walloons  was  irresistible.  The  Hungarian 
cavalry  was  the  first  to  retreat.  The  Bohemian  infan- 
try soon  followed  their  example ;  and  the  Germans 
were  at  last  carried  along  with  them  in  the  general 
flight.  Ten  cannons,  composing  the  whole  of  Freder- 
ick's artillery,  were  taken  by  the  enemy  ;  four  thou- 
sand Bohemians  fell  in  the  flight  and  on  the  field  ;  while 


bchiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


79 


of  the  imperialists  and  soldiers  of  the  League  only  a 
few  hundred  were  killed.  In  less  than  an  hour  this 
decisive  action  was  over. 

Frederick  was  seated  at  table  in  Prague,  while  his 
army  was  thus  cut  to  pieces.  It  is  probable  that  he 
had  not  expected  the  attack  on  this  day,  since  he  had 
ordered  an  entertainment  for  it.  A  messenger  sum- 
moned him  from  table,  to  show  him  from  the  walls  the 
whole  frightful  scene.  He  requested  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities for  twenty-four  hours  for  deliberation,  but  eight 
was  all  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  would  allow  him.  Fred- 
erick availed  himself  of  these  to  fly  by  night  from  the 
capital,  with  his  wife,  and  the  chief  officers  of  his  army. 
This  flight  was  so  hurried,  that  the  Prince  of  Anhalt 
left  behind  him  his  most  private  papers,  and  Frederick 
his  crown.  "  I  know  now  what  I  am,"  said  this  unfor- 
tunate prince  to  those  who  endeavored  to  comfort  him ; 
"  there  are  virtues  which  misfortune  only  can  teach  us, 
and  it  ;s  in  adversity  alone  that  princes  learn  to  know 
themselves." 

Prague  was  not  irretrievably  lost  when  Frederick's 
pusillanimity  abandoned  it.  The  light  troops  of  Mans- 
feld  were  still  in  Pilsen,  and  were  not  engaged  in  the 
action.  Bethlem  Gabor  might  at  any  moment  have 
assumed  an  offensive  attitude,  and  drawn  off  the  em- 
peror's army  to  the  Hungarian  frontier.  The  defeated 
Bohemians  might  rally.  Sickness,  famine,  and  the 
inclement  weather,  might  wear  out  the  enemy ;  but  all 
these  hopes  disappeared  before  the  immediate  alarm. 
Frederick  dreaded  the  fickleness  of  the  Bohemians,  who 
might  probably  yield  to  the  temptation  to  purchase,  by 
the  surrender  of  his  person,  the  pardon  of  the  emperor. 

Thurn,  and  those  of  this  party  who  were  in  the  same 
condemnation  with  him,  found  it  equally  inexpedient  to 
await  their  destiny  within  the  walls  of  Prague.  They 
retired  toward  Moravia,  with  a  view  of  seeking  refuge 
in  Transylvania.  Frederick  fled  to  Breslau,  where, 
however,  he  only  remained  a  short  time.  He  removed 
from  thence  to  the  court  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
and  finally  took  shelter  in  Holland. 

The  battle  of  Prague  had  decided  the  fate  of  Bohe- 
mia.   Prague  surrendered  the  next  day  to  the  victors ; 


BO 


schillek's  thirty  years'  hak. 


the  other  towns  followed  the  example  of  the  capita]. 
The  estates  did  homage  without  conditions,  and  the 
same  was  done  by  those  of  Silesia  and  Moravia.  The 
emperor  allowed  three  mouths  to  elapse  before  institu- 
ting auy  inquiry  into  the  past.  Reassured  by  this  appa- 
rent clemency,  many  who.  at  first,  had  tied  in  terror, 
appeared  again  in  the  capital.  All  at  once,  however, 
the  storm  burst  forth:  forty-eight  of  the  most  active 
atuoug  the  insurgents  were  arrested  on  the  same  day 
and  hour,  and  tried  by  an  extraordinary  commission, 
composed  of  native  Bohemians  and  Austriaus.  Of 
these,  twenty-seven,  and  of  the  common  people  an 
immense  number,  expired  on  the  scaffold.  The  ab- 
senting onenders  were  summoned  to  appear  to  their 
trial,  aud  failing  to  do  so.  condemned  to  death,  as  trait- 
ors and  offenders  against  his  Catholic  Majesty,  their 
estates  confiscated,  and  their  names  affixed  to  the  gal- 
lows. The  property  also  of  the  rebels  who  had  fallen 
in  the  field  was  seized.  This  tyranny  might  have  been 
borne,  as  it  affected  individuals  only,  and  while  the  ruin 
of  one  enriched  another:  but  more  intolerable  was  the 
oppression  which  extended  to  the  whole  kingdom,  with- 
out exception.  All  the  Protestant  preachers  were  ban- 
ished from  the  country  :  the  Bohemians  first,  and  after- 
ward those  of  Germany.  The  Letter  of  Majesty  Fer- 
dinand tore  with  his  own  hand,  and  burnt  the  seal. 
Seven  years  alter  the  battle  of  Prague,  the  toleration 
of  the  Protestant  religion  within  the  kingdom  was  en- 
tirely revoked.  But  the  violence  which  the  emperor 
allowed  himself  against  the  religious  privileges  of  his 
subjects,  he  carefully  abstained  from  exercising  against 
their  political  constitution  :  aud  while  he  deprived  them 
of  the  liberty  of  thought,  he  magnanimously  left  them 
the  prerogative  of  taxing  themselves. 

The  victory  of  the  White  Mountain  put  Ferdinand 
in  possession  of  all  his  dominions.  It  even  invested  him 
with  greater  authority  over  them  tb.au  his  predecessors 
enjoyed,  siuce  their  allegiance  had  been  uncondition- 
ally pledged  to  him.  aud  no  Letter  of  Majesty  now  ex- 
isted to  limit  his  sovereignty.  All  his  wishes  were  now 
gratified,  to  a  degree  surpassing  his  most  sanguine  ex- 
pectations. 


■UHlLLJSli's  THIRTY 


YfiÄJRä'  WAR. 


81 


It  was  now  m  his  power  to  dismiss  his  allies,  and 
disband  his  army.  If  he  was  just,  there  was  an  end  of 
the  war — if  he  wTas  both  magnanimous  and  just,  pun- 
ishment was  also  at  an  end.  The  fate  of  Germany  was 
in  his  hands ;  the  happiness  and  misery  of  millions  de- 
pended on  the  resolution  he  should  take.  Never  was 
so  great  a  decision  resting  on  a  single  mind  ;  never  did 
the  blindness  of  one  man  produce  so  much  ruin. 


BOOK  II. 

The  resolution  which  Ferdinand  now  adopted,  gave  to 
the  war  a  new  direction,  a  new  scene,  and  new  actors. 
From  a  rebellion  in  Bohemia,  and  the  chastisement  of 
rebels,  the  war  extended  first  to  Germany,  and  afterward 
to  Europe.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  take  a  gen- 
eral survey  of  the  state  of  affairs  both  in  Germany  and 
the  rest  of  Europe. 

Unequally  as  the  territory  of  Germany  and  the  priv- 
ileges of  its  members  were  divided  among  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  the  Protestants,  neither  party  could  hope 
to  maintain  itself  against  the  encroachments  of  its  ad- 
versary otherwise  than  by  a  prudent  use  of  its  peculiar 
advantages,  and  by  a  politic  union  among  themselves. 
If  the  Roman  Catholics  wrere  the  more  numerous  party, 
and  more  favored  by  the  constitution  of  the  empire,  the 
Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  had  the  advantage  of 
possessing  a  more  compact  and  populous  line  of  territo- 
ries, valiant  princes,  a  warlike  nobility,  numerous  armies, 
flourishing  free  towns,  the  command  of  the  sea,  and 
even  at  the  worst,  certainty  of  support  from  Roman 
Catholic  states.  If  the  Catholics  could  arm  Spain  and 
Italy  in  their  favor,  the  republics  of  Venice,  Holland, 
and  England  opened  their  treasures  to  the  Protestants, 
while  the  states  of  the  North,  and  the  formidable  power 
of  Turkey,  stood  ready  to  afford  them  prompt  assist- 
ance. Brandenburg,  Saxony,  and  the  Palatinate,  oppo- 
sed three  Protestant  to  three  Ecclesiastical  votes  in  the 
6 


83  BCHiLLER'ri  THIRTY  YEAllä'  WAR. 

Electoral  College ;  while  to  the  Elector  of  Bohemia,  as 
to  the  Archduke  of  Austria,  the  possession  of  the  impe- 
rial dignity  was  an  important  check,  if  the  Protestants 
properly  availed  themselves  of  it.  The  sword  of  the 
Union  might  keep  within  its  sheath  the  sword  of  the 
League.;  or  if  matters  actually  came  to  a  war,  might 
make  the  issue  of  it  doubtful.  But,  unfortunately,  pri- 
vate interests  dissolved  the  band  of  union  which  should 
have  held  together  the  political  members  of  the  empire. 
This  critical  conjuncture  found  none  but  second-rate 
actors  on  the  political  stage,  and  the  decisive  moment 
was  neglected  because  the  courageous  were  deficient  in 
power,  and  the  powerful  in  sagacity,  courage,  and  reso- 
lution. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
German  Protestants,  by  the  services  of  his  ancestor 
Maurice,  by  the  extent  of  his  territories,  and  by  the 
influence  of  his  electoral  vote.  Upon  the  resolution  he 
might  adopt,  the  fate  of  the  contending  parties  seemed 
to  depend ;  and  John  George  was  not  insensible  to  the 
advantages  which  this  important  situation  procured  him. 
Equally  valuable  as  an  ally,  both  to  the  emperor  and  to 
the  Protestant  Urtion,  he  cautiously  avoided  committing 
himself  to  either  party  ;  neither  trusting  himself  by  any 
irrevocable  declaration  entirely  to  the  gratitude  of  the 
emperor,  nor  renouncing  the  advantages  which  were  to 
be  gained  from  his  fears.  Uninfected  by  the  contagion 
of  religious  and  romantic  enthusiasm  which  hurried  sov- 
ereign after  sovereign  to  risk  both  crown  and  life  on  the 
hazard  of  war,  John  George  aspired  to  the  more  solid 
renown  of  improving  and  advancing  the  interests  of  his 
territories.  His  cotemporaries  accused  him  of  forsaking 
the  Protestant  cause  in  the  very  midst  of  the  storm  ;  of 
preferring  the  aggrandizement  of  his  house  to  the  eman- 
cipation of  his  country  ;  of  exposing  the  whole  Evangel- 
»  ical  or  Lutheran  church  of  Germany  to  ruin,  rather 
than  raise  an  arm  in  defense  of  the  Reformed  or  Cal- 
vinists  ;  of  injuring  the  common  cause  by  his  suspicious 
friendship  more  seriously  than  the  open  enmity  of  its 
avowed  opponents.  But  it  would  have  been  well  if  his 
accusers  had  imitated  the  wise  policy  of  the  elector. 
If,  despite  of  the  prudent  policy,  the  Saxons,  like  all 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


83 


others,  groaned  at  the  cruelties  which  marked  the  em- 
peror's progress ;  if  all  Germany  was  a  witness  how 
Ferdinand  deceived  his  confederates  and  trifled  with 
his  engagements ;  if  even  the  elector  himself  at  last 
perceived  this — the  more  shame  to  the  emperor  who 
could  so  basely  betray  such  implicit  confidence. 

If  an  excessive  reliance  on  the  emperor,  and  the 
hope  of  enlarging  his  territories,  tied  the  hands  of  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  the  weak  George  William,  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  was  still  more  shamefully  fettered  by  fear 
of  Austria,,  and  of  the  loss  of  his  dominions.  What  was 
made  a  reproach  against  these  princes  would  have  pre- 
served to  the  Elector  Palatine  his  fame  and  his  kingdom. 
A  rash  confidence  in  his  untried  strength,  the  influence 
of  French  counsels,  and  the  temptation  of  a  crown,  had 
seduced  that  unfortunate  prince  into  an  enterprise  for 
which  he  had  neither  adequate  genius  nor  political  ca- 
pacity. The  partition  of  his  territories  among  discord- 
ant princes  enfeebled  the  Palatinate,  which,  united, 
might  have  made  a  longer  resistance. 

This  partition  of  territory  was  equally  injurious  to  the 
House  of  Hesse,  in  which,  between  Darmstadt  and 
Cassel,  religious  dissensions  had  occasioned  a  fatal  divi- 
sion. The  line  of  Darmstadt,  adhering  to  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg,  had  placed  itself  under  the  emper- 
or's protection,  who  favored  it  at  the  expense  of  the 
Calvinists  of  Cassel.  While  his  religious  confederates 
were  shedding  their  blood  for  their  faith  and  their  lib- 
erties, the  Landgrave  of  Darmstadt  was  won  over  by 
the  emperor's  gold.  But  William  of  Cassel,  every  way 
worthy  of  his  ancestor  who,  a  century  before,  had  de- 
fended the  freedom  of  Germany  against  the  formidable 
Charles  V.,  espoused  the  cause  of  danger  and  of  honor. 
Superior  to  that  pusillanimity  which  made  far  more 
powerful  princes  bow  before  Ferdinand's  might,  the 
Landgrave  William  was  the  first  to  join  the  hero  of 
Sweden,  and  to  set  an  example  to  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many which  all  had  hesitated  to  begin.  The  boldness 
of  his  resolve  was  equaled  by  the  steadfastness  of  his 
perseverance  and  the  valor  of  his  exploits.  He  placed 
himself  with  unshrinking  resolution  before  his  bleeding 
country,  and  boldly  confronted  the  fearful  enemy,  whose 


84 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


hands  were  still  reeking  from  the  carnage  of  Magde- 
burg. 

The  Landgrave  "William  deserves  to  descend  to  im- 
mortality with  the  heroic  race  of  Ernest.  Thy  day  of 
vengeance  was  long  delayed,  unfortunate  John  Fred- 
erick !  Noble !  never-to-be-forgotten  prince !  Slowly 
but  brightly  it  broke.  Thy  times  returned,  and  thy 
heroic  spirit  descended  on  thy  grandson.  An  intrepid 
race  of  princes  issues  from  the  Thuringian  forests,  to 
shame,  by  immortal  deeds,  the  unjust  sentence  which 
robbed  thee  of  the  electoral  crown  —  to  avenge  thy 
offended  shade  by  heaps  of  bloody  sacrifice.  The  sen- 
tence of  the  conqueror  could  deprive  thee  of  thy  terri- 
tories, but  not  that  spirit  of  patriotism  which  staked 
them,  nor  that  chivalrous  courage  which,  a  century 
afterward,  was  destined  to  shake  the  throne  of  his  de- 
scendant. Thy  vengeance  and  that  of  Germany  whet- 
ted the  sacred  sword,  and  one  heroic  hand  after  the 
other  wielded  the  irresistible  steel.  As  men,  they 
achieved  what  as  sovereigns  they  dared  not  undertake  ; 
they  met  in  a  glorious  cause  as  the  valiant  soldiers  of 
liberty.  Too  weak  in  territory  to  attack  the  enemy 
with  their  own  forces,  they  directed  foreign  artillery 
against  them,  and  led  foreign  banners  to  victory. 

The  liberties  of  Germany,  abandoned  by  the  more 
powerful  states,  who,  however,  enjoyed  most  of  the 
prosperity  accruing  from  them,  were  defended  by  a  few 
princes  for  whom  they  were  almost  without  value.  The 
possession  of  territories  and  dignities  deadened  courage  ; 
the  want  of  both  made  heroes.  While  Saxony,  Bran- 
denburg, and  the  rest  drew  back  in  terror,  Anhalt, 
Mansfeld,  the  Prince  of  Weimar,  and  others,  were 
shedding  their  blood  in  the  field.  The  Dukes  of  Pom- 
erania,  Mecklenburg,  Lüneburg,  and  Wirtemburg,  and 
the  free  cities  of  Upper  Germany,  to  whom  the  name 
of  emperor  was  of  course  a  formidable  one,  anxiously 
avoided  a  contest  with  such  an  opponent,  and  crouched 
murmuring  beneath  his  mighty  arm. 

Austria  and  Roman  Catholic  Germany  possessed  in 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria  a  champion  as  prudent  as  he  was 
powerful.  Adhering  throughout  the  war  to  one  fixed 
plan,  never  divided  between  his  religion  and  his  political 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


85 


interests ;  not  the  slavish  dependent  of  Austria,  who 
was  laboring  for  his  advancement,  and  trembled  before 
her  powerful  protector,  Maximilian  earned  the  territo- 
ries and  dignities  that  rewarded  his  exertions.  The 
other  Roman  Catholic  states,  which  were  chiefly  eccle- 
siastical, too  unwarlike  to  resist  the  multitudes  whom  the 
prosperity  of  their  territories  allured,  became  the  vic- 
tims of  the  war  one  after  another,  and  were  contented 
to  persecute,  in  the  cabinet  and  in  the  pulpit,  the  enemy 
whom  they  could  not  openly  oppose  in  the  field.  All 
of  them,  slaves  either  to  Austria  or  Bavaria,  sunk  into 
insignificance  by  the  side  of  Maximilian ;  in  his  hand 
alone  their  united  power  could  be  rendered  available. 

The  formidable  monarchy  which  Charles  V.  and  his 
son  had  unnaturally  constructed  of  the  Netherlands, 
Milan,  and  the  two  Sicilies,  and  their  distant  possessions 
in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  was,  under  Philip  III. 
and  Philip  IV.,  fast  verging  to  decay.  Swollen  to  a 
sudden  greatness  by  unfruitful  gold,  this  power  was 
now  sinking  under  a  visible  decline,  neglecting,  as  it 
did,  agriculture,  the  natural  support  of  states.  The 
conquests  in  the  West  Indies  had  reduced  Spain  itself 
to  poverty,  while  they  enriched  the  markets  of  Europe  ; 
the  bankers  of  Antwerp,  Venice,  and  Genoa,  were  mak- 
ing profit  on  the  gold  which  was  still  buried  in  the 
mines  of  Peru.  For  the  sake  of  India,  Spain  had  been 
depopulated,  while  the  treasures  drawn  thence  were 
wasted  in  the  re-conquest  of  Holland,  in  the  chimerical 
project  of  changing  the  succession  to  the  crown  of 
France,  and  in  an  unfortunate  attack  upon  England. 
But  the  pride  of  this  court  had  survived  its  greatness, 
as  the  hate  of  its  enemies  had  outlived  its  power.  Dis- 
trust of  the  Protestants  suggested  to  the  ministry  of 
Philip  III.  the  dangerous  policy  of  his  father ;  and  the 
reliance  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Germany  on  Span- 
ish assistance  was  as  firm  as  their  belief  in  the  wonder- 
working bones  of  the  martyrs.  External  splendor  con- 
cealed the  inward  wounds  at  which  the  life-blood  of  this 
monarchy  was  oozing;  and  the  belief  of  its  strength 
survived,  because  it  still  maintained  the  lofty  tone  of  its 
golden  days.  Slaves  in  their  palaces,  and  strangers 
even  upon  their  own  thrones,  the  Spanish  nominal  kings 


SO 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


still  gave  laws  to  their  German  relations  ;  though  it  is 
very  doubtful  if  the  support  they  afforded  was  worth  the 
dependence  by  which  the  emperors  purchased  it.  The 
fate  of  Europe  was  decided  behind  the  Pyrenees  by 
ignorant  monks  or  vindictive  favorites.  Yet,  even  in  its 
debasement,  a  power  must  always  be  formidable,  which 
yields  to  none  in  extent ;  which,  from  custom,  if  not 
from  the  steadfastness  of  its  views,  adhered  faithfully  to 
one  system  of  policy  ;  which  possessed  well-disciplined 
armies  and  consummate  generals;  which,  where  the 
sword  failed,  did  not  scruple  to  employ  the  dagger ;  and 
converted  even  its  ambassHdors  into  incendiaries  and 
assassins.  What  it  had  lost  in  three  quarters  of  the 
globe  it  now  sought  to  regain  to  the  eastward,  and  all 
Europe  was  at  its  mercy,  if  it  could  succeed  in  its  long 
cherished  design  of  uniting  with  the  hereditary  domin- 
ions of  Austria  all  that  lay  between  the  Alps  and  the 
Adriatic. 

To  the  great  alarm  of  the  native  states,  this  formida- 
ble power  had  gained  a  footing  in  Italy,  where  its  con- 
tinual encroachments  made  the  neighboring  sovereigns 
to  tremble  for  their  own  possessions.  The  Pope  him- 
self was  in  the  most  dangerous  situation;  hemmed  in 
on  both  sides  by  the  Spanish  viceroys  of  Naples  on  the 
one  side,  and  that  of  Milan  upon  the  other.  Venice 
was  confined  between  the  Austrian  Tyrol  and  the  Span- 
ish territories  of  Milan.  Savoy  was  surrounded  by  the 
latter,  and  by  France.  Hence  the  wavering  and  equiv- 
ocal policy,  wThich,  from  the  time  of  Charles  V.,  had 
been  pursued  by  the  Italian  states.  The  characters 
which  the  Popes  held  caused  them  perpetually  to  vacil- 
late between  two  contradictory  systems  of  policy.  If 
the  successors  of  St.  Peter  found  in  the  Spanish  prin- 
ces their  most  obedient  disciples,  and  the  most  steadfast 
supporters  of  the  papal  see,  yet  the  princes  of  the 
states  of  the  Church  had  in  these  monarchs  their  most 
dangerous  neighbors,  and  most  formidable  opponents. 
If,  in  the  one  capacity,  their  dearest  wish  was  the  de- 
struction of  the  Protestants,  and  the  triumph  of  Aus- 
tria, in  the  other,  they  had  reason  to  bless  the  arms  of 
the  Protestants,  which  disabled  a  dangerous  enemy. 
The  one  or  the  other  sentiment  prevailed,  according 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  87 


as  the  love  of  temporal  dominion,  or  zeal  for  spiritual 
supremacy,  predominated  in  the  mind  of  the  Pope. 
But  the  policy  of  Rome  was,  on  the  whole,  directed  to 
immediate  dangers ;  and  it  is  well  known  how  far  more 
powerful  is  the  apprehension  of  losing  a  present  good, 
than  anxiety  to  recover  a  long  lost  possession.  And 
thus  it  becomes  intelligible  how  the  Pope  should  first 
combine  with  Austria  for  the  destruction  of  heresy,  and 
then  conspire  with  these  very  heretics  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  Austria.  Strangely  blended  are  the  threads  of 
human  affairs.  What  would  have  become  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, and  of  the  liberties  of  Germany,  if  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  the  Prince  of  Rome  had  had  but  one 
interest  ? 

France  had  lost  with  its  great  Henry  all  its  impor- 
tance and  all  its  weight  in  the  political  balance  of  Eu- 
rope. A  turbulent  minority  had  destroyed  all  the  ben- 
efits of  the  able  administration  of  Henry.  Incapable 
ministers,  the  creatures  of  court  intrigue,  squandered 
in  a  few  years  the  treasures  which  Sully's  economy  and 
Henry's  frugality  had  amassed.  Scarce  able  to  main- 
tain their  ground  against  internal  factions,  they  were 
compelled  to  resign  to  other  hands  the  helm  of  Euro- 
pean affairs.  The  same  civil  war  which  armed  Ger- 
many against  itself,  excited  a  similar  commotion  in 
France  ;  and  Louis  XIII.  attained  majority  only  to 
wage  a  war  with  his  own  mother  and  his  Protestant 
subjects.  This  party,  which  had  been  kept  quiet  by 
Heniy's  enlightened  policy,  now  seized  the  opportunity 
to  take  up  arms,  and,  under  the  command  of  some  ad- 
venturous leaders,  began  to  form  themselves  into  a  party 
within  the  state,  and  to  fix  on  the  strong  and  powerful 
town  of  Rochelle  as  the  capital  of  their  intended  king- 
dom. Too  little  of  a  statesman  to  suppress,  by  a  pru- 
dent toleration,  this  civil  commotion  in  its  birth,  and  too 
little  master  of  the  resources  of  his  kingdom  to  direct 
them  with  energy,  Louis  XIII.  was  reduced  to  the 
degradation  of  purchasing  the  submission  of  the  rebels 
by  large  sums  of  money.  Though  policy  might  incline 
him,  in  one  point  of  view,  to  assist  the  Bohemian  insur- 
gents against  Austria,  the  son  of  Henry  IV.  was  now 
compelled  to  be  an  inactive  spectator  oi'  their  destruc- 


SCHILl/llfs   THI&TY  Y  CARS*  WAR. 


tion,  happy  enough  if  the  Calvinists,  in  his  own  domin 
ions,  did  not  unseasonably  bethink  them  of  their  confed- 
erates beyond  the  Rhine.  A  great  mind  at  the  helm 
of  state  would  have  reduced  the  Protestants  in  France 
to  obedience,  while  it  fought  for  the  independence  of 
their  German  brethren.  But  Henry  IV.  was  no  more, 
and  Richelieu  had  not  yet  revived  his  system  of  policy. 

While  the  glory  of  France  was  thus  upon  the  wane, 
the  emancipated  republic  of  Holland  was  completing  the 
fabric  of  its  greatness.  The  enthusiastic  courage  had 
not  yet  died  away,  which,  enkindled  by  the  House  of 
Orange,  had  converted  this  mercantile  people  into  a 
nation  of  heroes,  and  had  enabled  them  to  maintain 
their  independence  in  a  bloody  war  against  the  Spanish 
monarchy.  Aware  how  much  they  owed  their  own 
liberty  to  foreign  support,  these  republicans  were  ready 
to  assist  their  German  brethren  in  a  similar  cause,  and 
the  more  so,  as  both  were  opposed  to  the  same  enemy, 
and  the  liberty  of  Germany  was  the  best  warrant  for 
that  of  Holland.  But  a  republic  which  had  still  to  bat- 
tle for  its  very  existence,  which,  with  all  its  wonderful 
exertions,  was  scarce  a  match  for  the  formidable  enemy 
within  its  own  territories,  could  not  be  expected  to 
withdraw  its  troops  from  the  necessary  work  of  self-de- 
fense to  employ  them  with  a  magnanimous  policy  in 
protecting  foreign  states. 

England,  too,  though  now  united  with  Scotland,  no 
longer  possessed,  under  the  weak  James,  that  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  Europe  which  the  governing  mind  of 
Elizabeth  had  procured  for  it.  Convinced  that  the  wel- 
fare of  her  dominions  depended  on  the  security  of  the 
Protestants,  this  politic  princess  had  never  swerved  from 
the  principle  of  promoting  every  enterprise  which  had 
for  its  object  the  diminution  of  the  Austrian  power.  Her 
successor  was  no  less  devoid  of  capacity  to  comprehend, 
than  of  vigor  to  execute,  her  views.  While  the  econom- 
ical Elizabeth  spared  not  her  treasures  to  support  the 
Flemings  against  Spain,  and  Henry  IV.  against  the 
League,  James  abandoned  his  daughter,  his  son-in-law, 
and  his  grandchild,  to  the  fury  of  his  enemies.  While 
he  exhausted  his  learning  to  establish  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  he  allowed  his  own  dignity  to  sink  into  the  dust: 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


89 


while  he  exerted  his  rhetoric  to  prove  the  absolute  au- 
thority of  kings,  he  reminded  the  people  of  theirs;  and, 
by  a  useless  profusion,  sacrificed  true  royalty — the  dis- 
pensing with  his  parliament,  and  thus  silencing  the 
voice  of  freedom.  An  innate  horror  at  the  sight  of  a 
naked  sword  averted  him  from  the  most  just  of  wars  ; 
while  his  favorite  Buckingham  practiced  on  his  weak- 
ness, and  his  own  complacent  vanity  rendered  him  an 
easy  dupe  of  Spanish  artifice.  While  his  son-in-law 
was  ruined,  and  the  inheritance  of  his  grandson  given 
to  others,  this  weak  prince  was  imbibing,  with  satisfac- 
tion, the  incense  which  was  offered  to  him  by  Austria 
and  Spain.  To  divert  his  attention  from  the  German 
war,  he  was  amused  with  the  proposal  of  a  Spanish 
marriage  for  his  son,  and  the  ridiculous  parent  encour- 
aged the  romantic  youth  in  the  foolish  project  of  pay- 
ing his  addresses  in  person  to  the  Spanish  princess. 
But  his  son  lost  his  bride,  as  his  son-in-law  lost  the 
crown  of  Bohemia  and  the  Palatine  Electorate ;  and 
death  alone  saved  him  from  the  danger  of  closing  his 
pacific  reign  by  a  war  at  home,  which  he  never  had 
courage  to  maintain,  even  at  a  distance. 

The  domestic  disturbances  which  his  misgovernment 
had  gradually  excited,  burst  forth  under  his  unfortunate 
son,  and  forced  him,  after  some  unimportant  attempts, 
to  renounce  all  further  participation  in  the  German 
war,  to  extinguish  within  his  own  kingdom  the  rage  of 
faction. 

Two  illustrious  monarchs,  far  unequal  in  personal  rep- 
utation, but  equ-al  in  power  and  desire  of  fame,  made 
the  North  at  this  time  to  be  respected.  Under  the  long 
and  active  reign  of  Christian  IV.,  Denmark  had  risen 
into  importance.  The  personal  qualifications  of  this 
prince,  an  excellent  navy,  a  formidable  army,  well- 
ordered  finances,  and  prudent  alliances,  had  combined 
to  give  her  prosperity  at  home  and  influence  abroad. 
Gustavus  Vasa  had  rescued  Sweden  from  vassalage, 
reformed  it  by  wise  laws,  and  had  introduced,  for  the 
first  time,  this  newly  organized  state  into  the  field  of 
European  politics.  What  this  great  prince  had  merely 
sketched  in  rude  outline,  was  filled  up  by  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  his  still  greater  grandson. 

H  2 


90 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


These  two  kingdoms,  once  unnaturally  united,  and  en- 
feebled by  their  union,  had  been  violently  separated  at 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  this  separation  was  the 
epoch  of  their  prosperity.  Injurious  as  this  compulsory 
union  had  proved  to  both  kingdoms,  equally  necessary 
to  each  apart  were  neighborly  friendship  and  harmony. 
On  both  the  evangelical  church  leaned  ;  both  had  the 
same  seas  to  protect:  a  common  interest  ought  to  unite 
them  against  the  same  enemy.  But  the  hatred  which 
had  dissolved  the  union  of  these  monarchies  continued 
long  after  their  separation  to  divide  the  two  nations. 
The  Danish  kings  could  not  abandon  their  pretensions 
to  the  Swedish  crown,  nor  the  Swedes  banish  the  re- 
membrance of  Danish  oppression.  The  contiguous 
boundaries  of  the  two  kingdoms  furnished  constantly 
materials  of  national  quarrels,  while  the  watchful  jeal- 
ousy of  both  kings,  and  the  unavoidable  collision  of  their 
commercial  interests  in  the  North  seas,  were  an  inex- 
haustible source  of  dispute. 

Among  the  means  of  which  Gustavus  Vasa,  the 
founder  of  the  Swedish  monarchy,  availed  himself  to 
strengthen  his  new  edifice,  the  Reformation  had  been 
one  of  the  principal.  A  fundamental  law  of  the  king- 
dom excluded  the  adherents  of  popery  from  all  offices 
of  the  state,  and  prohibited  every  future  sovereign  of 
Sweden  from  altering  the  religious  constitution  of  the 
kingdom.  But  the  second  son  and  second  successor 
of  Gustavus  had  relapsed  into  popeiy,  and  his  son  Sigis- 
mund, also  King  of  Poland,  had  been  guilty  of  measures 
which  menaced  both  the  constitution  and  the  established 
church.  Headed  by  Charles,  Duke  of  Sudermania,  the 
third  son  of  Gustavus,  the  estates  made  a  courageous 
resistance,  which  terminated,  at  last,  in  an  *>pen  civil 
war  between  the  uncle  and  nephew,  and  between  the 
king  and  the  people.  Duke  Charles,  administrator  of 
the  kingdom  during  the  absence  of  the  king,  had  availed 
himself  of  Sigismunde  long  residence  in  Poland,  and  the 
just  displeasure  of  the  states,  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
the  nation,  and  gradually  to  prepare  his  way  to  the 
throne.  His  views  were  not  a  little  forwarded  by  Sigis- 
mund's  imprudence.  A  general  Diet  ventured  to  abol- 
ish, in  favor  of  the  Protector,  the  rule  .of  primDgeni- 


schiller's  thirty  veaäs'  war. 


91 


ture  which  Gustavus  had  established  in  the  succession, 
and  placed  the  Duke  of  Sudermania  on  the  throne,  from 
which  Sigismund,  with  his  whole  posterity,  were  sol- 
emnly excluded.  The  son  of  the  new  king  (who 
reigned  under  the  name  of  Charles  IX.)  was  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  whom,  as  the  son  of  a  usurper,  the  adherents 
of  Sigismund  refused  to  recognize.  But  if  the  obliga- 
tions between  monarchy  and  subjects  are  reciprocal, 
and  states  are  not  to  be  transmitted,  like  a  lifeless  heir- 
loom, from  hand  to  hand,  a  nation  acting  with  unanimity 
must  have  the  power  of  renouncing  their  allegiance  to  a 
sovereign  who  has  violated  his  obligations  to  them,  and 
of  filling  his  place  by  a  worthier  object. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  not  completed  his  seventeenth 
year,  when  the  Swedish  throne  became  vacant  by  the 
death  of  his  father.  But  the  early  maturity  of  his  ge- 
nius enabled  the  estates  to  abridge  in  his  favor  the  legal 
period  of  minority.  With  a  glorious  conquest  over  him- 
self, he  commenced  a  reign  which  was  to  have  victory 
for  its  constant  attendant — a  career  which  was  to  begin 
and  end  in  success.  The  young  Countess  of  Brahe, 
the  daughter  of  a  subject,  had  gained  his  early  affec- 
tions, and  he  had  resolved  to  share  with  her  the  Swed- 
ish throne.  But,  constrained  by  time  and  circumstances, 
he  made  his  attachment  yield  to  the  higher  duties  of  a 
king,  and  heroism  again  took  exclusive  possession  of  a 
heart  which  was  not  destined  by  nature  to  confine  itself 
within  the  limits  of  quiet  domestic  happiness. 

Christian  IV.  of  Denmark,  wrho  had  ascended  the 
throne  before  the  birth  of  Gustavus,  in  an  inroad  upon 
Sweden,  had  gained  some  considerable  advantages  over 
the  father  of  that  hero.  Gustavus  Adolphus  hastened 
to  put  an  end  to  this  destructive  war,  and  by  prudent 
sacrifices  obtained  a  peace,  in  order  to  turn  his  arms 
against  the  Czar  of  Muscovy.  The  questionable  fame 
of  a  conqueror  never  tempted  him  to  spend  the  blood 
of  his  subjects  in  unjust  wars ;  but  he  never  shrunk 
from  a  just  one.  His  arms  were  successful  against 
Russia,  and  Sweden  was  augmented  by  several  impor- 
tant provinces  on  the  east. 

In  the  mean  time,  Sigismund  of  Poland  retained  against 
the  son  the  same  sentiments  of  hostility  which  the  father 


0§  SCHILLER^   THIRTY    TEARS*  WAR. 

had  provoked,  and  left  no  artifice  untried  to  shake  the 
alligiance  of  his  subjects,  to  cool  the  ardor  of  his  friends, 
and  to  imbitter  his  enemies.  Neither  the  great  quali- 
ties of  his  rival,  nor  the  repeated  proofs  of  devotion 
which  Sweden  gave  to  her  loved  monarch,  could  ex- 
tinguish in  this  infatuated  prince  the  foolish  hope  of  re- 
gaining his  lost  throne.  All  Gustavus's  overtures  were 
haughtily  rejected.  Unwillingly  was  this  really  peace- 
ful king  involved  in  a  tedious  war  with  Poland,  in  which 
the  whole  of  Livonia  and  Polish  Prussia  were  succes- 
sively conquered.  Though  constantly  victorious,  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  was  always  the  first  to  hold  out  the  hand 
of  peace. 

This  contest  between  Sweden  and  Poland  falls  some- 
where about  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in 
Germany,  with  which  it  is  in  some  measure  connected. 
It  was  enough  that  Sigismund,  himself  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, was  disputing  the  Swedish  crown  with  a  Protestant 
prince,  to  assure  him  the  active  support  of  Spain  and 
Austria  ;  while  a  double  relationship  to  the  emperor 
gave  him  a  still  stronger  claim  to  his  protection.  It  was 
his  reliance  on  this  powerful  assistance  that  chiefly  en- 
couraged the  King  of  Poland  to  continue  the  war,  which 
had  hitherto  turned  out  so  unfavorably  for  him,  and  the 
courts  of  Madrid  and  Vienna  failed  not  to  encourage  him 
by  high-sounding  promises.  While  Sigismund  lost  one 
place  after  another  in  Livonia,  Courland,  and  Prussia, 
he  saw  his  ally  in  Germany  advancing,  from  conquesv 
after  conquest,  to  unlimited  power.  No  wonder,  then,  iC 
his  aversion  to  peace  kept  pace  with  his  losses.  The 
vehemence  with  which  he  nourished  his  chimerical 
hopes  blinded  him  to  the  artful  policy  of  his  confederates, 
who  at  his  expense  were  keeping  the  Swedish  hero 
employed,  in  order  to  overturn,  without  opposition,  the 
liberties  of  Germany,  and  then  to  seize  on  the  exhaust- 
ed North  as  an  easy  conquest.  One  circumstance  which 
had  not  been  calculated  on — the  magnanimity  of  Gus- 
tavus — overthrew  this  deceitful  policy.  An  eight  years' 
war  in  Poland,  so  far  from  exhausting  the  power  of 
Sweden,  had  only  served  to  mature  the  military  genius 
of  Gustavus,  to  inure  the  Swedish  army  to  warfare,  and 
insensibly  to  perfect  that  system  of  tactics  by  which 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  93 


they  were  afterward  to  perform  such  wonders  in  Ger- 
many. 

After  this  necessary  digression  on  the  existing  circum- 
stances of  Europe,  I  now  resume  the  thread  of  my  his- 
tory. 

Ferdinand  had  regained  his  dominions,  but  had  not 
indemnified  himself  for  the  expenses  of  recovering  them. 
A  sum  of  forty  millions  of  florins,  which  the  confiscations 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  had  produced,  would  have  suf- 
ficed to  reimburse  both  him  and  his  allies ;  but  the 
Jesuits  and  his  favorites  soon  squandered  this  sum,  large 
as  it  was.  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  to  whose  victo- 
rious arm,  principally,  the  emperor  owed  the  recovery 
of  his  dominions  ;  who,  in  the  service  of  religion  and  the 
emperor,  had  sacrificed  his  near  relation,  had  the  strong- 
est claims  on  his  gratitude  ;  and,  moreover,  in  a  treaty 
which,  before  the  war,  the  duke  had  concluded  with  the 
emperor,  he  had  expressly  stipulated  for  the  reimburse- 
ment of  all  expenses.  Ferdinand  felt  the  full  weight  of 
the  obligation  imposed  upon  him  by  this  treaty  and  by 
these  services,  but  be  was  not  disposed  to  discharge  it  at 
his  own  cost.  His  purpose  was  to  bestow  a  brilliant  re- 
ward upon  the  duke,  but  without  detriment  to  himself. 
How  could  this  be  done  better  than  at  the  expense  of 
the  unfortunate  prince  who,  by  his  revolt,  had  given  the 
emperor  a  right  to  punish  him,  and  whose  offenses  might 
be  painted  in  colors  strong  enough  to  justify  the  most 
violent  measures  under  the  appearance  of  law.  That, 
then,  Maximilian  may  be  rewarded,  Frederick  must  be 
further  persecuted  and  totally  ruined  ;  and  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  old  war,  a  new  one  must  be  commenced. 

But  a  still  stronger  motive  combined  to  enforce  the 
first.  Hitherto  Ferdinand  had  been  contending  for  ex- 
istence alone  ;  he  had  been  fulfilling  no  other  duty  than 
that  of  self-defense.  But  now,  when  victoiy  gave  him 
freedom  to  act,  a  higher  duty  occurred  to  him,  and  he 
remembered  the  vow  which  he  had  made  at  Loretto  and 
at  Rome,  to  his  generalissima,  the  Holy  Virgin,  to  ex- 
tend her  worship  even  at  the  risk  of  his  crown  and  life. 
With  this  object  the  oppression  of  the  Protestants  was 
inseparably  connected.  More  favorable  circumstances 
for  its  accomplishment  could  not  offer  than  those  which 


94  BCHILLEii'ö   THIilT Y    YEARS*  WAR. 


presented  themselves  at  the  close  of  the  Bohemian  war. 
Neither  the  power,  nor  a  pretext  of  right,  were  now 
wanting  to  enable  him  to  place  the  Palatinate  in  the 
hands  of  the  Catholics;  and  the  importance  of  this 
change  to  the  Catholic  interests  in  Germany  would  be 
incalculable.  Thus,  in  rewarding  the  Duke  of  Bavaria 
with  the  spoils  of  his  relation,  he  at  once  gratified  his 
meanest  passions,  and  fulfilled  his  most  exalted  duties;  he 
crushed  an  enemy  whom  he  hated,  and  spared  his  ava- 
rice a  painful  sacrifice,  while  he  believed  he  was  win- 
ning a  heavenly  crown. 

In  the  emperor's  cabinet  the  ruin  of  Frederick  had 
been  resolved  upon  long  before  fortune  had  decided 
against  him  ;  but  it  was  only  after  this  event  that  they 
ventured  to  direct  against  him  the  thunders  of  arbitrary 
power.  A  decree  of  the  emperor,  destitute  of  all  the 
formalities  required  on  such  occasions  by  the  laws  of 
the  empire,  pronounced  the  elector,  and  three  other 
princes  who  had  borne  arms  for  him  at  Silesia  and  Bo- 
hemia, as  offenders  against  the  imperial  majesty,  and 
disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  under  the  ban  of  the  em- 
pire, and  deprived  them  of  their  titles  and  territories. 
The  execution  of  this  sentence  against  Frederick, 
namely,  the  seizure  of  his  lands,  was,  in  further  con- 
tempt of  law,  committed  to  Spain  as  sovereign  of  the 
circle  of  Burgundy,  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  and  the 
League.  Had  the  Evangelical  Union  been  worthy  of  the 
name  it  bore,  and  of  the  cause  which  it  pretended  to  de- 
fend, insuperable  obstacles  might  have  prevented  the 
execution  of  the  sentence  ;  but  it  was  hopeless  for  a 
power  which  was  far  from  a  match  even  for  the  Spanish 
troops  in  the  Lower  Palatinate  to  contend  against  the 
united  strength  of  the  emperor,  Bavaria,  and  the  League. 
The  sentence  of  proscription  pronounced  upon  the 
elector  soon  detached  the  free  cities  from  the  Union ; 
and  the  princes  quickly  followed  their  example.  Fortu- 
nate in  preserving  their  own  dominions,  they  abandoned 
the  elector,  their  former  chief,  to  the  emperor's  mercy, 
renounced  the  Union,  and  vowed  never  to  revive  it 
again. 

But  while  thus  ingloriously  the  German  princes  de- 
serted the  unfortunate  Frederick,  and  while  Bohemia, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  D5 

Silesia,  and  Moravia  submitted  to  the  emperor,  a  single 
man,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  whose  only  treasure  was  his 
sword,  Ernest  Count  Mansfeld,  dared,  in  the  Bohemian 
town  of  Pilsen,  to  defy  the  whole  power  of  Austria. 
Left  without  assistance,  after  the  battle  of  Prague,  by 
the  elector,  to  whose  service  he  had  devoted  himself, 
and  even  uncertain  whether  Frederick  would  thank  him 
for  his  perseverance,  he  alone  for  some  time  held  out 
against  the  imperialists,  till  the  garrison,  mutinying  for 
want  of  pay,  sold  the  town  to  the  emperor.  Undismayed 
by  this  reverse,  he  immediately  commenced  new  levies 
in  the  Upper  Palatinate,  and  enlisted  the  disbanded 
troops  of  the  Union.  A  new  army  of  twenty  thousand 
men  was  soon  assembled  under  his  banners,  the  more 
formidable  to  the  provinces  which  might  be  the  object 
of  its  attack,  because  it  must  subsist  by  plunder.  Un- 
certain where  this  swarm  might  light,  the  neighboring 
bishops  trembled  for  their  rich  possessions,  which  offered 
a  tempting  prey  to  its  ravages.  But,  pressed  by  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria,  who  now  entered  the  Upper  Palati- 
nate, Mansfeld  was  compelled  to  retire.  Eluding,  by  a 
successful  stratagem,  the  Bavarian  general,  Tilly,  who 
was  in  pursuit  of  him,  he  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
Lower  Palatinate,  and  there  wreaked  upon  the  bishop- 
rics of  the  Rhine  the  severities  he  had  designed  for  those 
of  Franconia.  While  the  imperial  and  Bavarian  allies 
thus  overran  Bohemia,  the  Spanish  general,  Spinola,  had 
penetrated  with  a  numerous  army  from  the  Netherlands 
into  the  Lower  Palatinate,  which,  however,  the  pacifi- 
cation of  Ulm  permitted  the  Union  to  defend.  But  their 
measures  were  so  badly  concerted,  that  one  place  after 
another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards;  and  at  last, 
when  the  Union  broke  up,  the  greater  part  of  the  country 
was  in  the  possession  of  Spain.  The  Spanish  general, 
Corduba,  who  commanded  these  troops  after  the  recall 
of  Spinola,  hastily  raised  the  siege  of  Frankenthal,  when 
Mansfeld  entered  the  Lower  Palatinate.  But,  instead 
of  driving  the  Spaniards  out  of  this  province,  he  hastened 
across  the  Rhine  to  secure  for  his  needy  troops  shelter 
and  subsistence  in  Alsace.  The  open  countries  on  which 
this  swarm  of  marauders  threw  themselves  were  con- 
verted into  frightful  deserts,  and  only  by  enormous  con- 


9(j 


SCHILLER'ö  THIRTY    YEARö'  WAR. 


tributions  could  the  cities  purchase  an  exemption  from 
plunder.  Reinforced  by  this  expedition,  Mansfeld 
again  appeared  on  the  Rhine  to  cover  the  Lower 
Palatinate. 

So  long  as  such  an  arm  fought  for  him,  the  cause  of 
the  Elector  Frederick  was  not  irretrievably  lost.  New 
prospects  began  to  open,  and  misfortune  raised  up  friends 
who  had  been  silent  during  his  prosperity.  King  James 
of  England,  who  had  looked  on  with  indifference  while 
his  son-in-law  lost  the  Bohemian  crown,  was  aroused 
from  his  insensibility  when  the  very  existence  of  his 
daughter  and  grandson  was  at  stake,  and  the  victorious 
enemy  ventured  an  attack  upon  the  electorate.  Late 
enough,  he  at  last  opened  his  treasures,  and  hastened  to 
afford  supplies  of  money  and  troops,  first  to  the  Union, 
which  at  that  time  was  defending  the  Lower  Palatinate, 
and  afterward,  when  they  retired,  to  Count  Mansfeld. 
By  his  means  his  near  relation,  Christian,  King  of  Den- 
mark, was  induced  to  afford  his  active  support.  At  the 
same  time,  the  approaching  expiration  of  the  truce  be- 
tween Spain  and  Holland  deprived  the  emperor  of  all 
the  supplies  which  otherwise  he  might  expect  from  the 
side  of  the  Netherlands.  More  important  still  was  the 
assistance  which  the  Palatinate  received  from  Transyl- 
vania and  Hungary.  The  cessation  of  hostilities  between 
Gabor  and  the  emperor  was  scarcely  at  an  end,  when 
this  old  and  formidable  enemy  of  Austria  overran  Hun- 
gary anew,  and  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  king  in 
Presburg.  So  rapid  was  his  progress  that,  to  protect 
Austria  and  Hungary,  Bucquoi  was  obliged  to  evacuate 
Bohemia.  This  brave  general  met  his  death  at  the 
siege  of  Neuhausel,  as.  shortly  before,  the  no  less  valiant 
Dampierre  had  fallen  before  Presburg.  Gabor's  march 
into  the  Austrian  territory  was  irresistible  ;  the  old 
Count  Thurn,  and  several  other  distinguished  Bohe- 
mians, had  united  their  hatred  and  their  strength  with 
this  irreconcilable  enemy  of  Austria.  A  vigorous  attack 
on  the  side  of  Germany,  while  Gabor  pressed  the  em- 
peror on  that  of  Hungary,  might  have  retrieved  the  for- 
tunes of  Frederick  ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  Bohemians 
and  Germans  had  always  laid  down  their  arms  when 
Gabor  took  the  field;  and  the  latter  was  always  ex- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


1)7 


hausted  nt  the  very  moment  that  the  former  began  to 
recover  their  vigor. 

Meanwhile,  Frederick  had  not  delayed  to  join  his  pro- 
tector, Mansfeld.  In  disguise  he  entered  the  Lower 
Palatinate,  of  which  the  possession  was  at  that  time  dis- 
puted between  Mansfeld  and  the  Bavarian  general,  Tilly, 
the  Upper  Palatinate  having  been  long  conquered.  A 
ray  of  hope  shone  upon  him  as,  from  the  wreck  of  the 
Union,  new  friends  came  forward.  A  former  member  of 
the  Union,  George  Frederick,  Margrave  of  Baden,  had 
for  some  time  been  engaged  in  assembling  a  military 
force,  which  soon  amounted  to  a  considerable  army.  Its 
destination  was  kept  a  secret  till  he  suddenly  took  the 
field  and  joined  Mansfeld.  Before  commencing  the  war, 
he  resigned  his  margraviate  to  his  son,  in  the  hope  of 
eluding,  by  this  precaution,  the  emperor's  revenge,  if  his 
enterprise  should  be  unsuccessful.  His  neighbor,  the 
Duke  of  Wirtemburg,  likewise  began  to  augment  his 
military  force.  The  courage  of  the  Palatinate  revived, 
and  he  labored  assiduously  to  renew  the  Protestant 
Union.  It  was  now  time  for  Tilly  to  consult  for  his  own 
safety,  and  he  hastily  summoned  the  Spanish  troops, 
under  Corduba,  to  his  assistance.  But  while  the  enemy 
was  uniting  his  strength,  Mansfeld  and  the  margrave 
separated,  and  the  latter  was  defeated  by  the  Bavarian 
general  near  Wimpfen  (1622). 

To  defend  a  king  whom  his  nearest  relation  perse- 
cuted, and  who  was  deserted  even  by  his  own  father- 
in-law,  there  had  come  forward  an  adventurer  without 
money,  and  whose  very  legitimacy  was  questioned.  A 
sovereign  bad  resigned  possessions  over  which  he 
reigned  in  peace  to  hazard  the  uncertain  fortune  of  war 
in  behalf  of  a  stranger.  And  now  another  soldier  of  for- 
tune, poor  in  territorial  possessions,  but  rich  in  illustri- 
ous ancestry,  undertook  the  defense  of  a  cause  which 
the  former  despaired  of.  Christian,  Duke  of  Brunswick, 
administrator  of  Halberstadt,  seemed  to  have  learnt  from 
Count  Mansfeld  the  secret  of  keeping  in  the  field  an 
army  of  twenty  thousand  men  without  money.  Impelled 
by  youthful  presumption,  and  influenced  partly  by  the 
wish  of  establishing  his  reputation  at  the  expense  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  priesthood,  whom  he  cordially  detested, 


98        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


and  partly  by  a  thirst  for  plunder,  he  assembled  a  con- 
siderable army  in  Lower  Saxony,  under  the  pretext  of 
espousing  the  defense  of  Frederick,  and  of  the  liberties 
of  Germany.  "  God's  Friend,  Priest's  Foe,"  was  the 
motto  he  chose  for  his  coinage,  which  was  struck  out  of 
church  plate  ;  and  his  conduct  belied  one  half  at  least  of 
the  device. 

The  progress  of  this  banditti  was,  as  usual,  marked  by 
the  most  frightful  devastation.  Enriched  by  the  spoils 
of  the  chapters  of  Lower  Saxony  and  Westphalia,  they 
gathered  strength  to  plunder  the  bishoprics  upon  the 
Upper  Rhine.  Driven  thence,  both  by  friends  and  foes, 
the  administrator  approached  the  town  of  Hoechst  on 
the  Maine,  which  he  crossed  after  a  murderous  action 
with  Tilly,  who  disputed  with  him  the  passage  of  the 
river.  With  the  loss  of  half  his  army  he  reached  the 
opposite  bank,  where  he  quickly  collected  his  shattered 
troops,  and  formed  a  junction  with  Mansfeld.  Pursued 
by  Tilly,  this  united  host  threw  itself  again  into  Alsace, 
to  repeat  their  former  ravages.  While  the  Elector 
Frederick  followed,  almost  like  a  fugitive  mendicant, 
surrounded  by  a  posse  which  acknowledged  him  as  its 
lord,  and  dignified  itself  with  his  name,  his  friends  were 
busily  endeavoring  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  him 
and  the  emperor.  Ferdinand  took  care  not  to  deprive 
them  of  all  hope  of  seeing  the  palatine  restored  to  his 
dominion.  Full  of  artifice  and  dissimulation,  he  pre- 
tended to  be  willing  to  enter  into  a  negotiation,  hoping 
thereby  to  cool  their  ardor  in  the  field,  and  to  prevent 
them  from  driving  matters  to  extremity.  James  I.,  ever 
the  dupe  of  Austrian  cunning,  contributed  not  a  little,  by 
his  foolish  intermeddling,  to  promote  the  emperor's 
schemes.  Ferdinand  insisted  that  Frederick,  if  he 
would  appeal  to  his  clemency,  should,  first  of  all,  lay 
down  his  arms,  and  James  considered  this  demand  ex- 
tremely reasonable.  At  Iiis  instigation  the  elector  dis- 
missed his  only  real  defenders,  Count  Mansfeld  and  the 
administrator,  and  in  Holland  awaited  his  own  fate  from 
the  mercy  of  the  emperor. 

Mansfeld  and  Duke  Christian  were  now  at  a  loss  for 
some  new  name ;  the  cause  of  the  elector  had  not  set 
them  in  motion,  so  his  dismissal  could  not  disarm  them. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


99 


War  was  their  object ;  it  was  all  the  same  to  them  in 
whose  cause  or  name  it  was  waged.  After  some  vain 
attempts  on  the  part  of  Mansfeld  to  be  received  into  the 
emperor's  service,  both  marched  into  Lorraine,  where 
the  excesses  of  their  troops  spread  terror  even  to  the 
heart  of  France.  Here  they  long  waited  in  vain  for  a 
master  willing  to  purchase  their  services  ;  till  the  Dutch, 
pressed  by  the  Spanish  general,  Spinola,  offered  to  take 
them  into  pay.  After  a  bloody  fight  at  Fleurus  with 
the  Spaniards,  who  attempted  to  intercept  them,  they 
reached  Holland,  where  their  appearance  compelled  the 
Spanish  general  forthwith  to  raise  the  siege  of  Bergen- 
op-Zoom.  But  even  Holland  was  soon  weary  of  these 
unwelcome  guests,  and  availed  herself  of  the  first  mo- 
ment to  get  rid  of  their  dangerous  assistance.  Mansfeld 
allowed  his  troops  to  recruit  themselves  for  new  enter- 
prises in  the  fertile  province  of  East  Friezeland.  Duke 
Christian,  passionately  enamored  of  the  Electress  Pala- 
tine, with  whom  he  had  become  acquainted  in  Holland, 
and  more  disposed  for  war  than  ever,  led  back  his  army 
into  Lower  Saxony,  bearing  that  princess's  glove  in  his 
hat,  and  on  his  standards  the  motto,  "  All  for  God  and 
Her."  Neither  of  these  adventurers  had  as  yet  run 
their  career  in  this  war. 

All  the  imperial  territories  were  now  free  from  the 
enemy ;  the  Union  was  dissolved ;  the  Margrave  of 
Baden,  Duke  Christian,  and  Mansfeld  driven  from  the 
field,  and  the  Palatinate  overrun  by  the  executive  troops 
of  the  empire.  Manheim  and  Heidelberg  were  in  pos- 
session of  Bavaria,  and  Frankenthal  was  shortly  after- 
ward ceded  to  the  Spaniards.  The  palatine,  in  a 
distant  corner  of  Holland,  awaited  the  disgraceful  per- 
mission to  appease,  by  abject  submission,  the  vengeance 
of  the  emperor  ;  and  an  Electoral  Diet  was  at  last 
summoned  to  decide  his  fate.  That  fate,  however,  had 
been  long  before  decided  at  the  court  of  the  emperor ; 
though,  now,  for  the  first  time,  were  circumstances 
favorable  for  giving  publicity  to  the  decision.  After  his 
past  measures  toward  the  elector,  Ferdinand  believed 
that  a  sincere  reconciliation  was  hot  to  be  hoped  for. 
The  violent  course  he  had  once  begun  must  be  com- 
pleted successfully,  or  recoil  upon  himself.    What  was 


100      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


already  lost  was  irrecoverable;  Frederick  could  neve;- 
hope  to  regain  his  dominions  ;  and  a  prince  without  ter- 
ritory and  without  subjects  had  little  chance  of  retaining 
the  electoral  crown.  Deeply  as  the  palatine  had  of- 
fended against  the  House  of  Austria,  the  services  of 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria  were  no  less  meritorious.  If  the 
House  of  Austria  and  the  Roman  Catholic  church  had 
much  to  dread,  from  the  resentment  and  religious  rancor 
of  the  palatine  family,  they  had  as  much  to  hope  from 
the  gratitude  and  religious  zeal  of  the  Bavarian.  Lastly, 
by  the  cession  of  the  palatine  electorate  to  Bavaria,  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  would  obtain  a  decisive  pre- 
ponderance in  the  Electoral  College,  and  secure  a  per- 
manent triumph  in  Germany. 

The  last  circumstance  was  sufficient  to  win  the  sup- 
port of  the  three  ecclesiastical  electors  to  this  innovation ; 
and  among  the  Protestants,  the  vote  of  Saxony  was  alone 
of  any  importance.  But  could  John  George  be  expected 
to  dispute  with  the  emperor  a  right,  without  which  he 
would  expose  to  question  his  own  title  to  the  electoral 
dignity?  To  a  prince  whom  descent,  dignity,  and  po- 
litical power  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  church 
in  Germany,  nothing,  it  is  true,  ought  to  be  more  sacred 
than  the  defense  of  the  rights  of  that  church  against  all 
the  encroachments  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  But  the 
question  here  was  not  whether  the  interests  of  the 
Protestants  were  to  be  supported  against  the  Roman 
Catholics,  but  which  of  two  religions,  equally  detested — 
the  Calvinistic  and  the  Popish,  was  to  triumph  over  the 
other  ;  to  which  of  the  two  enemies,  equally  dangerous, 
the  palatinate  was  to  be  assigned  ;  and  in  this  clashing  of 
opposite  duties,  it  was  natural  that  private  hate  and  pri- 
vate gain  should  determine  the  event.  The  born  pro- 
tector of  the  liberties  of  Germany  and  of  the  Protestant 
religion  encouraged  the  emperor  to  dispose  of  the  pal- 
atinate by  his  imperial  prerogative,  and  to  apprehend  no 
resistance  on  the  part  of  Saxony  to  his  measures  on  the 
mere  ground  of  form.  If  the  elector  was  afterward  dis- 
posed to  retract  this  consent,  Ferdinand  himself,  by 
driving  the  Evangelical  preachers  from  Bohemia,  was 
the  cause  of  this  change  of  opinion  ;  and,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  elector,  the  transference  of  the  palatine  electorate 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


101 


to  Bavaria  ceased  to  be  illegal  as  soon  as  Ferdinand  was 
prevailed  upon  to  cede  Lusatia  to  Saxony,  in  consider- 
ation of  six  millions  of  dollars,  as  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

Thus,  in  defiance  of  all  Protestant  Germany,  and  in 
mockery  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  empire,  which, 
at  his  election,  he  had  sworn  to  maintain,  Ferdinand,  at 
Ratisbon,  solemnly  invested  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  with 
the  palatinate,  without  prejudice,  as  the  form  ran,  to 
the  rights  which  the  relations  or  descendants  of  Fred- 
erick might  afterward  establish.  That  unfortunate  prince 
thus  saw  himself  irrevocably  driven  from  his  possessions, 
without  having  been  even  heard  before  the  tribunal 
which  condemned  him — a  privilege  which  the  law  allows 
to  the  meanest  subject,  and  even  to  the  most  atrocious 
criminal. 

This  violent  step  at  last  opened  the  eyes  of  the  King 
of  England;  and  as  the  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of 
his  son  with  the  Infanta  of  Spain  were  now  broken  off, 
James  began  seriously  to  espouse  the  cause  of  his  son- 
in-law.  A  change  in  the  French  ministry  had  placed 
Cardinal  Richelieu  at  the  head  of  affairs,  and  this  fallen 
kingdom  soon  began  to  feel  that  a  great  mind  was  at  the 
helm  of  state.  The  attempts  of  the  Spanish  viceroy  in 
Milan  to  gain  possession  of  the  Valtelline,  and  thus  to 
form  a  junction  with  the  Austrian  hereditary  dominions, 
revived  the  olden  dread  of  this  power,  and  with  it  the 
policy  of  Heniy  the  Great.  The  marriage  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales  with  Henrietta  of  France  established  a  close 
union  between  the  two  crowns ;  and  to  this  alliance, 
Holland,  Denmark,  and  some  of  the  Italian  states  pres- 
ently acceded.  Its  object  was  to  expel,  by  force  of 
arms,  Spain  from  the  Valtelline,  and  to  compel  Austria 
to  reinstate  Frederick ;  but  only  the  first  of  these  de- 
signs was  prosecuted  with  vigor.  James  I.  died,  and 
Charles  I.,  involved  in  disputes  with  his  parliament, 
could  not  bestow  attention  on  the  affairs  of  Germany. 
Savoy  and  Venice  withheld  their  assistance ;  and  the 
French  minister  thought  it  necessary  to  subdue  the 
Huguenots  at  home,  before  he  supported  the  German 
Protestants  against  the  emperor.  Great  as  were  the 
hopes  which  had  been  formed  from  this  alliance,  they 
were  yet  equaled  by  the  disappointment  of  the  event. 
i2 


102       bchiller's  thirty  yeabs*  war. 


Mansfeld,  deprived  of  all  support,  remained  inactive 
on  the  Lower  Rhine;  and  Duke  Christian  of  Bruns- 
wick, after  an  unsuccessful  campaign,  was  a  second  time 
driven  out  of  Germany.  A  fresh  irruption  of  Bethlem 
Gabor  into  Moravia,  frustrated  by  the  want  of  support 
from  the  Germans,  terminated,  like  all  the  rest,  in  a 
formal  peace  with  the  emperor.  The  Union  was  no 
more  ;  njo  Protestant  prince  was  in  arms ;  and  on  the 
frontiers  of  Lower  Germany  the  Bavarian  general, 
Tilly,  at  the  head  of  a  victorious  army,  encamped  in  the 
Protestant  territoiy.  The  movements  of  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick  had  drawn  him  into  this  quarter,  and  even 
into  the  circle  of  Lower  Saxony,  when  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  administrator's  magazines  at  Lippstadt. 
The  necessity  of  observing  this  enemy,  and  preventing 
him  from  new  inroads,  was  the  pretext  assigned  for  con- 
tinuing Tilly's  stay  in  the  country.  But,  in  truth,  both 
Mansfeld  and  Duke  Christian  had,  from  want  of  money, 
disbanded  their  armies,  and  Count  Tilly  had  no  enemy 
to  dread.  Why,  then,  still  burden  the  country  with  his 
presence  ? 

It  is  difficult,  amid  the  uproar  of  contending  parties, 
to  distinguish  the  voice  of  truth ;  but  certainly  it  was 
matter  for  alarm  that  the  League  did  not  lay  down  its 
arms.  The  premature  rejoicings  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, too,  were  calculated  to  increase  apprehension. 
The  emperor  and  the  League  stood  armed  and  victo- 
rious in  Germany,  without  a  power  to  oppose  them, 
should  they  venture  to  attack  the  Protestant  states  and 
to  annul  the  religious  treaty.  Had  Ferdinand  been  in 
reality  far  from  disposed  to  abuse  his  conquests,  still,  the 
defenseless  position  of  the  Protestants  was  most  likely 
to  suggest  the  temptation.  Obsolete  conventions  could 
not  bind  a  prince  who  thought  that  he  owed  all  to  re- 
ligion, and  believed  that  a  religious  creed  would  sanctify 
any  deed,  however  violent.  Upper  Germany  was  al- 
ready overpowered.  Lower  Germany  alone  could  check 
his  despotic  authority.  Here  the  Protestants  still  pre- 
dominated :  the  church  had  been  forcibly  deprived  of 
most  of  its  endowments,  and  the  present  appeared  a 
favorable  moment  for  recovering  these  lost  possessions. 
A  great  part  of  the  strength  of  the  Lower  German 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  103 

princes  consisted  in  these  chapters,  and  the  plea  of  re- 
storing its  own  to  the  church  afforded  an  excellent  pre- 
text for  weakening  these  princes. 

Unpardonable  would  have  been  their  negligence,  had 
they  remained  inactive  in  this  danger.  The  remem- 
brance of  the  ravages  which  Tilly's  army  had  committed 
in  Lower  Saxony  was  too  recent  not  to  arouse  the 
estates  to  measures  of  defense.  With  all  haste,  the 
circle  of  Lower  Saxony  began  to  arm  itself.  Extraor- 
dinary contributions  were  levied,  troops  collected,  and 
magazines  filled.  Negotiations  for  subsidies  were  set 
on  foot  with  Venice,  Holland,  and  England.  They  de- 
liberated, too,  what  power  should  be  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  confederacy.  The  kings  of  the  Sound  and  the 
Baltic,  the  natural  allies  of  this  circle,  would  not  see 
with  indifference  the  emperor  treating  it  as  a  conqueror, 
and  establishing  himself  as  their  neighbor  on  the  shores 
of  the  North  Sea.  The  twofold  interests  of  religion 
and  policy  urged  them  to  put  a  stop  to  his  progress  in 
Lower  Germany.  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark,  as  Duke 
of  Holstein,  was  himself  a  prince  of  the  circle,  and  by 
considerations  equally  powerful,  Gustavus  Adolphus  of 
Sweden  was  induced  to  join  the  confederacy. 

These  two  kings  vied  with  each  other  for  the  honor 
of  defending  Lower  Saxony,  and  of  opposing  the  for- 
midable power  of  Austria.  Each  offered  to  raise  a  well- 
disciplined  army,  and  to  lead  it  in  person.  His  victo- 
rious campaigns  against  Moscow  and  Poland  gave  weight 
to  the  promises  of  the  King  of  Sweden.  The  shores  of 
the  Baltic  were  full  of  the  name  of  Gustavus.  But  the 
fame  of  his  rival  excited  the  envy  of  the  Danish  mon- 
arch ;  and  the  more  success  he  promised  himself  in  this 
campaign,  the  less  disposed  was  he  to  show  any  favor 
to  his  envied  neighbor.  Both  laid  their  conditions  and 
plans  before  the  English  ministry,  and  Christian  IV. 
finally  succeeded  in  outbidding  his  rival.  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  for  his  own  security,  had  demanded  the  ces- 
sion of  some  places  of  strength  in  Germany,  where  he 
himself  had  no  territories  to  afford,  in  case  of  need,  a 
place  of  refuge  for  his  troops.  Christian  IV.  possessed 
Holstein  aud  Jutland,  through  which,  in  the  event  of 
a  defeat,  he  could  always  secure  a  retreat. 


104      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Eager  to  get  the  start  of  his  competitor,  the  King  of 
Denmark  hastened  to  take  the  field.  Appointed  gener- 
alissimo of  the  circle  of  Lower  Saxony,  he  soon  had  an 
army  of  sixty  thousand  men  in  motion;  the  administra- 
tor of  Magdeburg,  and  the  Dukes  of  Brunswick  and 
Mecklenburg,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  him.  En- 
couraged by  the  hope  of  assistance  from  England,  and 
the  possession  of  so  large  a  force,  he  flattered  himself 
he  should  be  able  to  terminate  the  war  in  a  single  cam- 
paign. 

At  Vienna  it  was  officially  notified  that  the  only  ob- 
ject of  these  preparations  was  the  protection  of  the  cir- 
cle and  the  maintenance  of  peace.  But  the  negotia- 
tions with  Holland,  England,  and  even  France,  the  ex- 
traordinary exertions  of  the  circle,  and  the  raising  of  so 
formidable  an  army,  seemed  to  have  something  more  in 
view  than  defensive  operations,  and  to  contemplate  noth- 
ing less  than  the  complete  restoration  of  the  elector 
palatine  and  the  humiliation  of  the  dreaded  power  of 
Austria. 

After  negotiations,  exhortations,  commands,  and  threats 
had  in  vain  been  employed  by  the  emperor  in  order 
to  induce  the  King  of  Denmark  and  the  circle  of  Low- 
er Saxony  to  lay  down  their  arms,  hostilities  com- 
menced, and  Lower  Germany  became  the  theater  of 
war.  Count  Tilly,  marching  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Weser,  made  himself  master  of  all  the  passes  as  far  as 
Minden.  After  an  unsuccessful  attack  on  Nieuburg,  he 
crossed  the  river  and  overran  the  principality  of  Calem- 
berg,  in  which  he  quartered  his  troops.  The  king  con- 
ducted his  operations  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and 
spread  his  forces  over  the  territories  of  Brunswick ;  but, 
having  weakened  his  main  body  by  too  powerful  detach- 
ments, he  could  not  engage  in  any  enterprise  of  import- 
ance. Aware  of  his  opponent's  superiority,  he  avoided  a 
decisive  action  as  anxiously  as  the  general  of  the  League 
sought  it. 

With  the  exception  of  the  troops  from  the  Spanish 
Netherlands,  which  had  poured  into  the  Lower  Palati- 
nate, the  emperor  had  hitherto  made  use  only  of  the 
arms  of  Bavaria  and  the  League  in  Germany.  Maximil- 
ian conducted  the  war  as  executor  of  the  ban  of  the 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


105 


empire,  and  Tilly,  who  commanded  the  army  of  execu- 
tion, was  in  the  Bavarian  service.  The  emperor  owed 
superiority  in  the  field  to  Bavaria  and  the  League,  and 
his  fortunes  were  in  their  hands.  This  dependence  on 
their  good-will,  but  ill  accorded  with  the  grand  schemes 
which  the  brilliant  commencement  of  the  war  had  led 
the  imperial  cabinet  to  form. 

However  active  the  League  had  shown  itself  in  the 
emperor's  defense,  while  thereby  it  secured  its  own 
wrelfare,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  it  would  enter  as 
readily  into  his  views  of  conquest.  Or,  if  they  still  con- 
tinued to  lend  their  armies  for  that  purpose,  it  was  too 
much  to  be  feared  that  they  would  share  with  the  em- 
peror nothing  but  general  odium,  wThile  they  appropri- 
ated to  themselves  all  advantages.  A  strong  army  under 
his  own  orders  could  alone  free  him  from  this  debasing 
dependence  upon  Bavaria,  and  restore  to  him  his  former 
preeminence  in  Germany.  But  the  war  had  already 
exhausted  the  imperial  dominions,  and  they  were  un- 
equal to  the  expense  of  such  an  armament.  In  these 
circumstances,  nothing  could  be  more  welcome  to  the 
emperor  than  the  proposal  with  which  one  of  his  officers 
surprised  him. 

This  was  Count  Wallenstein,  an  experienced  officer, 
and  the  richest  nobleman  in  Bohemia.  From  his  ear- 
liest youth  he  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  House  of 
Austria ;  and  several  campaigns  against  the  Turks, 
Venetians,  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  and  Transylvanians 
had  established  his  reputation.  He  was  present  as  col- 
onel at  the  battle  of  Prague,  and  afterward,  as  major- 
general,  had  defeated  a  Hungarian  force  in  Moravia. 
The  emperor's  gratitude  was  equal  to  his  services,  and 
a  large  share  of  the  confiscated  estates  of  the  Bohemi-an 
insurgents  was  their  reward.  Possessed  of  immense 
property,  excited  by  ambitious  views,  confident  in  his 
own  good  fortune,  and  still  more  encouraged  by  the  ex- 
isting state  of  circumstances,  he  offered,  at  his  own 
expense  and  that  of  his  friends,  to  raise  and  clothe  an 
army  for  the  emperor,  and  even  undertook  the  cost  of 
maintaining  it,  if  he  were  allowed  to  augment.it  to  fifty 
thousand  men.  The  project  was  universally  ridiculed 
as  the  chimerical  offspring  of  a  visionary  brain ;  but  the 


SCHlLLEIl's  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 


otter  was  highly  valuable,  if  its  promises  should  be  but 
partially  fulfilled.  Certain  circles  in  Bohemia  were  as- 
signed to  him  as  depots,  with  authority  to  appoint  his 
own  officers.  In  a  few  months  he  had  twenty  thousand 
men  under  arms,  with  which,  quitting  the  Austrian  ter- 
ritories, he  soon  afterward  appeared  on  the  frontiers  of 
Lower  Saxony  with  thirty  thousand.  The  emperor  had 
lent  this  armament  nothing  but  his  name.  The  reputa- 
tion of  the  general,  the  prospect  of  rapid  promotion,  and 
the  hope  of  plunder,  attracted  to  his  standard  adventur- 
ers from  all  quarters  of  Germany,  and  even  sovereign 
princes,  stimulated  by  the  desire  of  glory  or  of  gain, 
offered  to  raise  regiments  for  the  service  of  Austria. 

Now,  therefore,  for  the  first  time  in  this  war,  an  im- 
perial army  appeared  in  Germany ;  which  was  mena- 
cing to  the  Protestants,  and  scarcely  more  acceptable  to 
the  Roman  Catholics.  Wallenstein  had  orders  to  unite 
his  army  with  the  troops  of  the  League,  and,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Bavarian  general,  to  attack  the  King  of 
Denmark.  But,  long  jealous  of  Tilly's  fame,  he  showed 
no  disposition  to  share  with  him  the  laurels  of  the  cam- 
paign, or,  in  the  splendor  of  his  rival's  achievements,  to 
dim  the  luster  of  his  own.  His  plan  of  operations  was 
to  support  the  latter,  but  to  act  entirely  independent  of 
him.  As  he  had  not  resources,  like  Tilly,  for  supplying 
the  wants  of  his  army,  he  was  obliged  to  march  his 
troops  into  fertile  countries  which  had  not  as  yet  suf- 
fered from  war.  Disobeying,  therefore,  the  order  to 
form  a  junction  with  the  general  of  the  League,  he 
marched  into  the  territories  of  Halberstadt  and  Magde- 
burg, and  at  Dessau  made  himself  master  of  the  Elbe. 
All  the  lands  on  either  bank  of  this  river  were  at  his 
command,  and  from  them  he  could  either  attack  the 
King  of  Denmark  in  the  rear,  or,  if  prudent,  enter  the 
territories  of  that  prince. 

Christian  IV .  was  fully  aware  of  the  danger  of  his 
situation  between  two  such  powerful  armies.  He  had 
already  been  joined  by  the  administrator  of  Halberstadt, 
who  had  lately  returned  from  Holland  ;  he  now  also  ac- 
knowledged Mansfeld,  whom  previously  he  had  refused 
to  recognize,  and  supported  him  to  the  best  of  his  abili- 
ty.   Mansfeld  amply  requited  this  service.    He  alone 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  107 


kept  at  bay  the  army  of  Wallenstein  upon  the  Elbe,  and 
prevented  its  junction  with  that  of  Tilly,  and  a  combined 
attack  on  the  King  of  Denmark.  Notwithstanding  the 
enemy's  superiority,  this  intrepid  general  even  approach- 
ed the  bridge  of  Dessau,  and  ventured  to  entrench  him- 
self in  presence  of  the  imperial  lines.  But,  attacked 
in  the  rear  by  the  whole  force  of  the  imperialists,  he 
was  obliged  to  yield  to  superior  numbers,  and  to  abandon 
his  post  with  the  loss  of  three  thousand  killed.  After 
this  defeat,  Mansfeld  withdrew  into  Brandenburg,  where 
he  soon  recruited  and  reinforced  his  army;  and  sudden- 
ly turned  into  Silesia,  with  the  view  of  marching  thence 
into  Hungary ;  and,  in  conjunction  with  Bethlem  Gabor, 
carrying  the  war  into  the  heart  of  Austria.  As  the 
Austrian  dominions  in  that  quarter  were  entirely  de- 
fenseless, Wallenstein  received  immediate  orders  to 
leave  the  King  of  Denmark,  and,  if  possible,  to  intercept 
Mansfeld's  progress  through  Silesia. 

The  diversion  which  this  movement  of  Mansfeld  had 
made  in  the  army  of  Wallenstein  enabled  the  king  to 
detach  a  part  of  his  force  into  Westphalia,  to  seize  the 
bishoprics  of  Munster  and  Osnaburg.  To  check  this 
movement,  Tilly  suddenly  moved  from  the  Weser ;  but 
the  operations  of  Duke  Christian,  who  threatened  the 
territories  of  the  League  with  an  inroad  in  the  direction 
of  Hesse,  and  to  remove  thither  the  seat  of  war,  re- 
called him  as  rapidly  from  Westphalia.  In  order  to 
keep  open  his  communication  with  these  provinces,  and 
to  prevent  the  junction  of  the  enemy  with  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse,  Tilly  hastily  seized  all  the  tenable  posts 
on  the  Werha  and  Fulda,  and  took  up  a  strong  position 
in  Minden,  at  the  foot  of  the  Hessian  Mountains,  and  at 
the  confluence  of  these  rivers  with  the  Weser.  He  soon 
made  himself  master  of  Göttingen,  the  key  of  Bruns- 
wick and  Hesse,  and  was  meditating  a  similar  attack 
upon  Nordheim,  when  the  king  advanced  upon  him  with 
his  whole  army.  After  throwing  into  this  place  the  ne- 
cessary supplies  for  a  long  siege,  the  latter  attempted  to 
open  a  new  passage  through  Eichsfeld  and  Thuringia, 
into  the  territories  of  the  League.  He  had  already 
reached  Duderstadt,  when  Tilly,  by  forced  marches, 
came  up  with  him.    As  the  army  of  Tilly,  which  had 


108      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


been  reinforced  by  some  of  Wallenstein's  regiments, 
was  superior  in  numbers  to  his  own,  the  king,  to  avoid 
a  battle,  retreated  toward  Brunswick.  But  Tilly  in- 
cessantly harassed  his  retreat,  and  after  three  days' 
skirmishing,  he  was  at  length  obliged  to  await  the  enemy 
near  the  village  of  Lutter  in  Barenberg.  The  Danes 
began  the  attack  with  great  bravery,  and  thrice  did 
their  intrepid  monarch  lead  them  in  person  against  the 
enemy  ;  but  at  length  the  superior  numbers  and  disci- 
pline of  the  imperialists  prevailed,  and  the  general  of  the 
League  obtained  a  complete  victory.  The  Danes  lost 
sixty  standards  and  their  whole  artillery,  baggage,  and 
ammunition.  Several  officers  of  distinction  and  about 
four  thousand  men  were  killed  in  the  field  of  battle;  and 
several  companies  of  foot,  in  the  flight,  who  had  thrown 
themselves  into  the  town-house  of  Lutter,  laid  down 
their  arms  and  surrendered  to  the  conqueror. 

The  king  fled  with  his  cavalry,  and  soon  collected  the 
wreck  of  his  army  which  had  survived  this  serious  defeat. 
Tilly  pursued  his  victory,  made  himself  master  of  the 
Weser  aud  Brunswick,  and  forced  the  king  to  retire 
into  Bremen.  Rendered  more  cautious  by  defeat,  the 
latter  now  stood  upon  the  defensive,  and  determined  at 
all  events  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  crossing  the  Elbe. 
But  while  he  threw  garrisons  into  every  tenable  place, 
he  reduced  his  own  diminished  army  to  inactivity  ;  and, 
one  after  another  his  scattered  troops  were  either  de- 
feated or  dispersed.  The  forces  of  the  League,  in  com- 
mand of  the  Weser,  spread  themselves  along  the  Elbe 
and  Havel,  and  everywhere  drove  the  Danes  before 
them.  Tilly  himself,  crossing  the  Elbe,  penetrated  with 
his  victorious  army  into  Brandenburg,  while  Wallen- 
stein entered  Holstein  to  remove  the  seat  of  war  to  the 
king's  own  dominions. 

This  general  had  just  returned  from  Hungary,  whither 
he  had  pursued  Mansfeld,  without  being  able  to  obstruct 
his  march,  or  prevent  his  junction  with  Bethlem  Gabor. 
Constantly  persecuted  by  fortune,  but  always  superior 
to  his  fate,  Mansfeld  had  made  his  way  against  count- 
less difficulties,  through  Silesia  and  Hungary,  to  Tran- 
sylvania, where,  after  all,  he  was  not  very  welcome. 
Relying  upon  the  assistance  of  England,  and  a  powerful 


SCHILLEft's  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.  109 


diversion  iu  Lower  Saxony,  Gabor  had  again  broken  the 
truce  with  the  emperor.  But  in  place  of  the  expected  di- 
version in  his  favor,  Mansfeld  had  drawn  upon  himself  the 
whole  strength  of  Wallenstein,  and  instead  of  bringing, 
required  pecuniary  assistance.  The  want  of  concert  in 
the  Protestant  counsels  cooled  Gabors  ardor;  and  he 
hastened,  as  usual,  to  avert  the  coming  storm  by  a  speedy 
peace.  Firmly  determined,  however,  to  break  it,  with 
the  first  ray  of  hope,  he  directed  Mansfeld,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  apply  for  assistance  to  Venice. 

Cut  off  from  Germany,  and  unable  to  support  the 
weak  remnant  of  his  troops  in  Hungary,  Mansfeld  sold 
his  artillery  and  baggage-train,  and  disbanded  his  sol- 
diers. With  a  few  followers,  he  proceeded  through 
Bosnia  and  Dalmatia,  toward  Venice.  New  schemes 
swelled  his  bosom,  but  his  career  was  ended.  Fate,  which 
had  so  restlessly  sported  with  him  throughout,  now  pre- 
pared for  him  a  peaceful  grave  in  Dalmatia.  Death 
overtook  him  in  the  vicinity  of  Zara  in  1626,  and  a  short 
time  before  him  died  the  faithful  companion  of  his  for- 
tunes, Christian,  Duke  of  Brunswick — two  men  worthy 
of  immortality,  had  they  but  been  as  superior  to  their 
times  as  they  were  to  their  adversities. 

The  King  of  Denmark,  with  his  whole  army,  was 
unable  to  cope  with  Tilly  alone;  much  less,  therefore, 
with  a  shattered  force  could  he  hold  his  ground  against 
the  two  imperial  generals.  The  Danes  retired  from  all 
their  posts  on  the  Weser,  the  Elbe,  and  the  Havel,  and 
the  army  of  Wallenstein  poured,  like  a  torrent,  into 
Brandenburg,  Mecklenburg,  Holstein,  and  Silesia.  That 
general,  too  proud  to  act  in  conjunction  with  another, 
had  dispatched  Tilly  across  the  Elbe,  to  watch,  as  he 
gave  out,  the  motions  of  the  Dutch  in  that  quarter  ;  but 
in  reality,  that  he  might  terminate  the  war  against  the 
king,  and  reap  for  himself  the  fruits  of  Tilly's  conquests. 
Christian  had  now  lost  all  his  fortresses  in  the  German 
states,  with  the  exception  of  Gluckstadt ;  his  armies 
were  defeated  or  dispersed ;  no  assistance  came  from  Ger- 
many;  from  England,  little  consolation  ;  while  his  con- 
federates in  Lower  Saxony  were  at  the  mercy  of  the 
conqueror.  The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  had  been 
forced  by  Tilly,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Lutter,  to  re- 


110       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


nounce  the  Danish  alliance.  Wallenstein's  formidable 
appearance  before  Berlin  reduced  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg to  submission,  and  compelled  him  to  recognize, 
as  legitimate,  Maximilian's  title  to  the  Palatine  Elector- 
ate. The  greater  part  of  Mecklenburg  was  now  over- 
run by  imperial  troops,  and  both  dukes,  as  adherents  of 
the  King  of  Denmark,  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  em- 
pire, and  driven  from  their  dominions.  The  defense  of 
the  German  liberties  against  illegal  encroachments,  was 
punished  as  a  crime  deserving  the  loss  of  all  dignities 
and  territories;  and  yet  this  was  but  the  prelude  to  the 
still  more  crying  enormities  which  shortly  followed. 

The  secret  how  Wallenstein  had  purposed  to  fulfill 
his  extravagant  designs  was  now  manifest.  He  had 
learned  the  lesson  from  Count  Mansfeld;  but  the  scholar 
surpassed  his  master.  On  the  principle  that  war  must 
support  war,  Mansfeld  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  had 
subsisted  their  troops  by  contributions  levied  indiscrimi- 
nately on  friend  and  enemy  ;  but  this  predatory  life  was 
attended  with  all  the  inconvenience  and  insecurity  which 
accompany  robbery.  Like  a  fugitive  banditti,  they  were 
obliged  to  steal  through  exasperated  and  vigilant  ene- 
mies ;  to  roam  from  one  end  of  Germany  to  another ; 
to  watch  their  opportunity  with  anxiety ;  and  to  abandon 
the  most  fertile  territories  whenever  they  were  defended 
by  a  superior  army.  If  Mansfeld  and  Duke  Christian 
had  done  such  great  things  in  the  face  of  these  diffi- 
culties, what  might  not  be  expected  if  the  obstacles 
were  removed ;  when  the  army  raised  was  numerous 
enough  to  overawe  in  itself  the  most  powerful  states  of 
the  empire ;  when  the  name  of  the  emperor  insured 
impunity  to  every  outrage  ;  and  when,  under  the  high- 
est authority,  and  at  the  head  of  an  overwhelming  force, 
the  same  system  of  warfare  was  pursued,  which  these 
two  adventurers  had  hitherto  adopted  at  their  own  risk, 
and  with  only  an  untrained  multitude  ? 

Wallenstein  had  all  this  in  view  when  he  made  his 
bold  offer  to  the  emperor,  which  now  seemed  extrava- 
gant to  no  one.  The  more  his  army  was  augmented, 
the  less  cause  was  there  to  fear  for  its  subsistence,  be- 
cause it  could  irresistibly  bear  down  upon  the  refractory 
states  •  the  more  violent  its  outrages,  the  more  probable 


SCHILLER^    THIRTY    YEARS*  WAR. 


Iii 


was  impunity.  Toward  hostile  states  it  had  the  plea  of 
right ;  toward  the  favorably  disposed  it  could  alledge  ne- 
cessity. The  inequality,  too,  with  which  it  dealt  out  its 
oppressions,  prevented  any  dangerous  union  among  the 
states  ;  while  the  exhaustion  of  their  territories  deprived 
them  of  the  power  of  vengeance.  Thus  the  whole  of 
Germany  became  a  kind  of  magazine  for  the  imperial 
army,  and  the  emperor  was  enabled  to  deal  with  the 
other  states  as  absolutely  as  with  his  own  hereditary  do- 
minions. Universal  was  the  clamor  for  redress  before 
the  imperial  throne  ;  but  there  was  nothing  to  fear  from 
the  revenge  of  the  injured  princes  so  long  as  they  ap- 
pealed for  justice.  The  general  discontent  was  directed 
equally  against  the  emperor,  who  had  lent  his  name  to 
these  barbarities,  and  the  general  who  exceeded  his 
power,  and  openly  abused  the  authority  of  his  master. 
They  applied  to  the  emperor  for  protection  against  the 
outrages  of  his  general ;  but  Wallenstein  had  no  sooner 
felt  himself  absolute  in  the  army  than  he  threw  off  his 
obedience  to  his  sovereign. 

The  exhaustion  of  the  enemy  made  a  speedy  peace 
probable  ;  yet  Wallenstein  continued  to  augment  the 
imperial  armies  until  they  were  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  men  strong.  Numberless  commissions  to 
colonelcies  and  inferior  commands,  the  regal  pomp  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  immoderate  largesses  to  his  favor- 
ites (for  he  never  gave  less  than  a  thousand  florins), 
enormous  sums  lavished  in  corrupting  the  court  at 
Vienna — all  this  had  been  effected  without  burdening 
the  emperor.  These  immense  sums  were  raised  by  the 
contributions  levied  from  the  lower  German  provinces, 
where  no  distinction  was  made  between  friend  and  foe; 
and  the  territories  of  aH  princes  were  subjected  to  the 
same  system  of  marching  and  quartering,  of  extortion 
and  outrage.  If  credit  is  to  be  given  to  an  extravagant 
cotemporary  statement,  Wallenstein,  during  his  seven 
years'  command,  had  exacted  not  less  than  sixty  thousand 
millions  of  dollars  from  one  half  of  Germany.  The 
greater  his  extortions,  the  greater  the  rewards  of  his 
soldiers,  and  the  greater  the  concourse  to  his  standard, 
for  the  world  always  follows  fortune.  His  armies  flour- 
ished while  all  the  states  through  which  they  passed 


Ii2 


^chiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


withered.  What  cared  he  for  the  detestation  of  the 
people,  and  the  complaints  of  princes  ?  His  army  adored 
him,  and  the  guilt  itself  enabled  him  to  bid  defiance  to 
its  consequences. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  Ferdinand,  were  we  to  lay  all 
these  irregularities  to  his  charge.  Had  he  foreseen 
that  he  was  abandoning  the  German  states  to  the  mercy 
of  his  general,  he  would  have  been  sensible  how  dan- 
gerous to  himself  so  absolute  a  general  would  prove. 
The  closer  the  connection  became  between  the  army 
and  the  leader  from  whom  flowed  favor  and  fortune,  the 
more  the  ties  which  united  both  to  the  emperor  were 
relaxed.  Every  thing,  it  is  true,  was  done  in  the  name 
of  the  latter;  but  Wallenstein  only  availed  himself  of 
the  supreme  majesty  of  the  emperor  to  crush  the  au- 
thority of  other  states.  His  object  was  to  depress  the 
princes  of  the  empire,  to  destroy  all  gradation  of  rank 
between  them  and  the  emperor,  and  to  elevate  the 
power  of  the  latter  above  all  competition.  If  the  em- 
peror were  absolute  in  Germany,  who,  then,  would  be 
equal  to  the  man  intrusted  with  the  execution  of  his 
will  ?  The  height  to  which  Wallenstein  had  raised  the 
imperial  authority  astonished  even  the  emperor  himself; 
but  as  the  greatness  of  the  master  was  entirely  the  work 
of  the  servant,  the  creation  of  Wallensteiu  would  ne- 
cessarily sink  again  into  nothing  upon  the  withdrawal 
of  its  creative  hand.  Not  without  an  object,  therefore, 
did  Wallenstein  labor  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  Ger- 
man princes  against  the  emperor.  The  more  violent 
their  hatred  of  Ferdinand,  the  more  indispensable  to  the 
emperor  would  become  the  man  who  alone  could  ren- 
der their  ill-will  powerless.  His  design  unquestionably 
was,  that  his  sovereign  should  stand  in  fear  of  no  one  in 
all  Germany — beside  himself,  the  source  and  engine  of 
this  despotic  power. 

As  a  step  toward  this  end,  Wallenstein  now  demand- 
ed the  cession  of  Mecklenburg  to  be  held  in  pledge  till 
the  repayment  of  his  advances  for  the  war.  Ferdinand 
had  already  created  him  Duke  of  Friedland,  apparently 
with  the  view  of  exalting  his  own  general  over  Bavaria; 
but  an  ordinary  recompense  would  not  satisfy  Wallen- 
stein's  ambition.    In  vain  was  this  new  demand,  which 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


113 


could  be  granted  only  at  the  expense  of  two  princes  of 
the  empire,  actively  resisted  in  the  Imperial  Council; 
in  vain  did  the  Spaniards,  who  had  long  been  offended 
by  his  pride,  oppose  his  elevation.  The  powerful  sup- 
port which  Wallenstein  had  purchased  from  the  impe- 
rial counselors  prevailed,  and  Ferdinand  was  determined, 
at  whatever  cost,  to  secure  the  devotion  of  so  indispen- 
sable a  minister.  For  a  slight  offense,  one  of  the  oldest 
German  houses  was  expelled  from  their  hereditary  do- 
minions, that  a  creature  of  the  emperor  might  be  en- 
riched by  their  spoils  (1628). 

Walleustein  now  began  to  assume  the  title  of  gener- 
alissimo of  the  emperor  by  sea  and  land.  Wismar  was 
taken,  and  a  firm  footing  gained  on  the  Baltic.  Ships 
were  required  from  Poland  and  the  Hans  towns  to  carry 
the  war  to  the  other  side  of  the  Baltic ;  to  pursue  the 
Danes  into  the  heart  of  their  own  country,  and  to  com- 
pel them  to  a  peace  which  might  prepare  the  way  to 
more  important  conquests.  The  communication  be- 
tween the  Lower  German  states  and  the  northern 
powers  would  be  broken,  could  the  emperor  place  him- 
self between  them,  and  encompass  Germany,  from  the 
Adriatic  to  the  Sound  (the  intervening  Kingdom  of  Po- 
land being  already  dependent  on  him),  with  an  unbro- 
ken line  of  territory.  If  such  was  the  emperor's  plan, 
Wallenstein  had  a  peculiar  interest  in  its  execution. 
These  possessions  on  the  Baltic  should,  he  intended, 
form  the  first  foundation  of  a  power  which  had  long 
been  the  object  of  his  ambition,  and  which  should 
enable  him  to  throw  off  his  dependence  on  the  em- 
peror. 

To  effect  this  object,  it  was  of  extreme  importance 
to  gain  possession  of  Stralsund,  a  town  on  the  Baltic. 
Its  excellent  harbor,  and  the  short  passage  from  it  to 
the  Swedish  and  Danish  coasts,  peculiarly  fitted  it  for 
a  naval  station  in  a  war  with  these  powers.  This  town, 
the  sixth  of  the  Hanseatio  Xeague,  enjoyed  great  priv- 
ileges under  the  Duke  of  Pomerania;  and,  totally  inde- 
pendent of  Denmark,  had  taken  no  share  in  the  war. 
But  neither  its  neutrality  nor  its  privileges  could  protect 
it  against  the  encroachments  of  Wallenstein,  when  he 
had  once  cast  a  longing  look  upon  it. 
8  k  2 


114 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


The  request  be  made,  that  Stralsund  should  receive 
an  imperial  garrison,  had  been  firmly  and  honorably 
rejected  by  the  magistracy,  who  also  refused  his  cun- 
ningly-demanded permission  to  march  his  troops  through 
the  town.  Wallenstein,  therefore,  now  proposed  to  be- 
siege it. 

The  independence  of  Stralsund,  as  securing  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Baltic,  was  equally  important  to  the 
two  northern  kings.  A  common  danger  overcame,  at 
last,  the  private  jealousies  which  had  long  divided  these 
princes.  In  a  treaty  concluded  at  Copenhagen  in  1628, 
they  bound  themselves  to  assist  Stralsund  with  their 
combined  force,  and  to  oppose,  in  common,  every  for- 
eign power  which  should  appear  in  the  Baltic  with  hos- 
tile views.  Christian  IV.  also  threw  a  sufficient  gar- 
rison into  Stralsund,  and  by  his  personal  presence  ani- 
mated the  courage  of  the  citizens.  Some  ships  of  war, 
which  Sigismund,  King  of  Poland,  had  sent  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  imperial  general,  were  sunk  by  the  Dan- 
ish fleet ;  and  as  Lübeck  refused  him  the  use  of  its 
shipping,  this  imperial  generalissimo  of  the  sea  had  not 
even  ships  enough  to  blockade  this  single  harbor. 

Nothing  could  appear  more  adventurous  than  to 
attempt  the  conquest  of  a  strongly  fortified  sea-port  with- 
out first  blockading  its  harbor.  Wallenstein,  however, 
who  as  yet  had  never  experienced  a  check,  wished  to 
conquer  nature  itself,  and  to  perform  impossibilities. 
Stralsund,  open  to  the  sea,  continued  to  be  supplied 
with  provisions  and  reinforcements;  yet  Wallenstein 
maintained  his  blockade  on  the  land  side,  and  endeavor- 
ed, by  boasting  menaces,  to  supply  his  want  of  real 
strength.  "  I  will  take  this  town,"  said  he,  "  though  it 
were  fastened  by  a  chain  to  the  heavens."  The  em- 
peror himself,  who  might  have  cause  to  regret  an  enter- 
prise which  promised  no  very  glorious  result,  joyfully 
availed  himself  of  the  apparent  submission  and  accepta- 
ble propositions  of  the  inhabitants,  to  order  the  general 
to  retire  from  the  town.  Wallenstein  despised  the 
command,  and  continued  to  harass  the  besieged  by 
incessant  assaults.  As  the  Danish  garrison,  already 
much  reduced,  was  unequal  to  the  fatigues  of  this  pro- 
longed defense,  and  the  king  was  unable  to  detach  any 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


115 


further  troops  to  their  support,  Stralsund,  with  Chris- 
tian's consent,  threw  itself  under  the  protection  of  the 
King  of  Sweden.  The  Danish  commander  left  the 
town  to  make  way  for  a  Swedish  governor,  who  glori- 
ously defended  it.  Here  Wallenstein's  good  fortune 
forsook  him ;  and,  for  the  first  time,  his  pride  experien- 
ced the  humiliation  of  relinquishing  his  prey,  after  the 
loss  of  many  mouths  and  of  twelve  thousand  men.  The 
necessity  to  which  he  reduced  the  town  of  applying  for 
protection  to  Sweden,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  close  alli- 
ance between  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Stralsund,  which 
greatly  facilitated  the  entrance  of  the  Swedes  into  Ger- 
many. 

Hitherto  invariable  success  had  attended  the  arms  of 
the  emperor  and  the  League,  and  Christian  IV.,  de- 
feated in  Germany,  had  sought  refuge  in  his  own 
islands  ;,  but  the  Baltic  checked  the  further  progress  of 
the  conquerors.  The  want  of  ships  not  only  stopped 
the  pursuit  of  the  king,  but  endangered  their  previous 
acquisitions.  The  union  of  the  two  monarchs  was  most 
to  be  dreaded,  because,  so  long  as  it  lasted,  it  effectually 
prevented  the  emperor  and  his  general  from  acquiring 
a  footing  on  the  Baltic,  or  effecting  a  landing  in  Sweden. 
But  if  they  could  succeed  in  dissolving  this  union,  and 
especially  in  securing  the  friendship  of  the  Danish  king, 
they  might  hope  to  overpower  the  insulated  force  of 
Sweden.  The  dread  of  the  interference  of  foreign 
powers,  the  insubordination  of  the  Protestants  in  his 
own  states,  and  still  more  the  storm  which  was  gradu- 
ally darkening  along  the  whole  of  Protestant  Germany, 
inclined  the  emperor  to  peace,  which  his  general,  from 
opposite  motives,  was  equally  desirous  to  effect.  Far 
from  wishing  for  a  state  of  things  which  would  reduce 
him  from  the  meridian  of  greatness  and  glory  to  the  ob- 
scurity of  private  life,  he  only  wished  to  change  the 
theatre  of  war,  and  by  a  partial  peace  to  prolong  the 
general  confusion.  The  friendship  of  Denmark,  whose 
neighbor  he  had  become  as  Archduke  of  Mecklenburg, 
was  most  important  for  the  success  of  his  ambitious 
views ;  and  he  resolved,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  sov- 
ereign's iuterests,  to  secure  its  alliance. 

By  the  treaty  of  Copenhagen,  Christian  IV.  had  ex- 


110      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

pressly  engaged  not  to  conclude  a  separate  peace  with 
the  emperor,  without  the  consent  of  Sweden.  Not- 
withstanding, Wallenstein's  proposition  was  readily  re- 
ceived by  him.  In  a  conference  at  Lübeck  in  1629, 
from  which  Wallenstein,  with  studied  contempt,  exclud- 
ed the  Swedish  ambassadors  who  came  to  intercede  for 
Mecklenburg,  all  the  conquests  taken  by  the  imperial- 
ists were  restored  to  the  Danes.  The  conditions  im- 
posed upon  the  king  were,  that  he  should  interfere  no 
farther  with  the  affairs  of  Germany  than  was  called  for 
by  his  character  of  Duke  of  Holstein ;  that  he  should 
on  no  pretext  harass  the  chapters  of  Lower  Germany, 
and  should  leave  the  dukes  of  Mecklenburg  to  their 
fate.  By  Christian  himself  had  these  princes  been 
involved  in  the  war  with  the  emperor ;  he  now  sacri- 
ficed them,  to  gain  the  favor  of  the  usurper  of  their  ter- 
ritories. Among  the  motives  which  had  engaged  him 
in  a  war  with  the  emperor,  not  the  least  was  the  res- 
toration of  his  relation,  the  Elector  Palatine — yet  the 
name  of  that  unfortunate  prince  was  not  even  mention- 
ed in  the  treaty ;  while  in  one  of  its  articles  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  Bavarian  election  was  expressly  recognized. 
Thus  meanly  and  ingloriously  did  Christian  IV.  retire 
from  the  field. 

Ferdinand  had  it  now  in  his  power,  for  the  second 
time,  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of  Germany ;  and  it  de- 
pended solely  on  his  will  whether  the  treaty  with  Den- 
mark should  or  should  not  be  the  basis  of  a  general 
peace.  From  every  quarter  arose  the  cry  of  the  un- 
fortunate, petitioning  for  an  end  of  their  sufferings  ;  the 
cruelties  of  his  soldiers,  and  the  rapacity  of  his  generals, 
had  exceeded  all  bounds.  Germany,  laid  waste  by  the 
desolating  bands  of  Mansfeld  and  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, and  by  the  still  more  terrible  hordes  of  Tilly  and 
Wallenstein,  lay  exhausted,  bleeding,  wasted,  and  sigh- 
ing for  repose.  An  anxious  desire  for  peace  was  felt  by 
all  the  estates,  and  by  the  emperor  himself ;  involved 
as  he  was  in  a  war  with  France  in  Upper  Italy,  ex- 
hausted by  his  past  warfare  in  Germany,  and  apprehen- 
sive of  the  day  of  reckoning  which  was  approaching. 
But  unfortunately,  the  conditions  on  which  alone  the 
two  religious  parties  were  willing  respectively  to  sheath 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  117 


the  sword,  were  irreconcilable.  The  Roman  Catholics 
wished  to  terminate  the  war  to  their  own  advantage; 
the  Protestants  advanced  equal  pretensions.  The  em- 
peror, instead  of  uniting  both  parties  by  a  prudent  mod- 
eration, sided  with  one  ;  and  thus  Germany  was  again 
plunged  in  the  horrors  of  a  bloody  war. 

From  the  very  close  of  the  Bohemian  troubles,  Fer- 
dinand had  carried  on  a  counter  reformation  in  his  he- 
reditary dominions,  in  which,  however,  from  regard  to 
some  of  the  Protestant  estates,  he  proceeded,  at  first, 
with  moderation.  But  the  victories  of  his  generals  in 
Lower  Germany  encouraged  him  to  throw  off  all  reserve. 
Accordingly  he  had  it  intimated  to  all  the  Protestants  in 
these  dominions,  that  they  must  either  abandon  their 
religion  or  their  native  country — a  bitter  and  dreadful 
alternative,  which  excited  the  most  violent  commotions 
among  his  Austrian  subjects.  In  the  Palatinate,  imme- 
diately after  the  expulsion  of  Frederick,  the  Protestant 
religion  had  been  suppressed  and  its  professors  expelled 
from  the  University  of  Heidelberg. 

All  this  was  but  the  prelude  to  greater  changes.  In 
the  Electoral  Congress  held  at  Mühlberg,  the  Roman 
Catholics  had  demanded  of  the  emperor  that  all  the 
archbishoprics,  bishoprics,  mediate  and  immediate,  ab- 
bacies and  monasteries,  which,  since  the  Diet  of  Augs- 
burg, had  been  secularized  by  the  Protestants,  should 
be  restored  to  the  Church,  in  order  to  indemnify  them 
for  the  losses  and  sufferings  in  the  war.  To  a  Roman 
Catholic  prince  so  zealous  as  Ferdinand  was,  such  a  hint 
was  not  likely  to  be  neglected  ;  but  he  still  thought  it 
would  be  premature  to  arouse  the  whole  Protestants  of 
Germany  by  so  decisive  a  step.  Not  a  single  Protestant 
prince  but  would  be  deprived,  by  this  revocation  of  the 
religious  foundations,  of  a  part  of  his  lands  ;  for  where 
these  revenues  had  not  actually  been  diverted  to  secu- 
lar purposes,  they  had  been  made  over  to  the  Protestant 
church.  To  this  source,  many  princes  owed  the  chief 
part  of  their  revenues  and  importance.  All,  without 
exception,  would  be  irritated  by  this  demand  for  resto- 
ration. The  religious  treaty  did  not  expressly  deny 
their  right  to  these  chapters,  although  it  did  not  allow 
it.    But  a  possession  which  had  now  been  held  for 


118       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


nearly  a  century,  the  silence  of  four  preceding  emperors, 
and  the  law  of  equity,  which  gave  them  an  equal  right 
with  the  Roman  Catholics  to  the  foundations  of  their 
common  ancestors,  might  be  strongly  pleaded  by  them 
as  a  valid  title.  Beside  the  actual  loss  of  power  and 
authority,  which  the  surrender  of  these  foundations 
would  occasion,  beside  the  inevitable  confusion  which 
would  necessarily  attend  it,  one  important  disadvantage 
to  which  it  would  lead,  was,  that  the  restoration  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  bishops  would  increase  the  strength  of 
that  party  in  the  Diet  by  so  many  additional  votes.  Such 
grievous  sacrifices  likely  to  fall  on  the  Protestants,  made 
the  emperor  apprehensive  of  a  formidable  opposition  ; 
and  until  the  military  ardor  should  have  cooled  in  Ger- 
many, he  had  no  wish  to  provoke  a  party  formidable  by 
its  union,  and  which  in  the  Elector  of  Saxony  had  a 
powerful  leader.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  try  the 
experiment  at  first  on  a  small  scale,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain how  it  was  likely  to  succeed  on  a  larger  one.  Ac- 
cordingly, some  of  the  free  cities  in  Upper  Germany, 
and  the  Duke  of  Wirtemburg,  received  orders  to  sur- 
render to  the  Roman  Catholics  several  of  the  confisca- 
ted chapters. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  Saxony  enabled  the  emperor 
to  make  some  bolder  experiments  in  that  quarter.  In 
the  bishoprics  of  Magdeburg  and  Halberstadt,  the  Prot- 
estant canons  had  not  hesitated  to  elect  bishops  of  their 
own  religion.  Both  bishoprics,  with  the  exception  of 
the  town  of  Magdeburg  itself,  were  overrun  by  the 
troops  of  Wallenstein.  It  happened,  moreover,  that 
by  the  death  of  the  Administrator,  Duke  Christian  of 
Brunswick,  Halberstadt  was  vacant,  as  was  also  the 
archbishopric  of  Magdeburg  by  the  deposition  of  Chris- 
tian William,  a  prince  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg. 
Ferdinand  took  advantage  of  the  circumstance  to  re- 
store the  see  of  Halberstadt  to  a  Roman  Catholic 
bishop,  and  a  prince  of  his  own  house.  To  avoid  a  sim- 
ilar coercion,  the  Chapter  of  Magdeburg  hastened  to 
elect  a  son  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  as  archbishop.  But 
the  Pope,  who  with  his  arrogated  authority  interfered 
in  this  matter,  conferred  the  archbishopric  of  Magde- 
burg also  on  the  Austrian  prince.    Thus,  with  all  his 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


119 


pious  zeal  for  religion,  Ferdinand  never  lost  sight  of  the 
interests  of  his  family. 

At  length,  when  the  peace  of  Lübeck  had  delivered 
the  emperor  from  all  apprehensions  on  the  side  of  Den- 
mark, and  the  German  Protestants  seemed  entirely- 
powerless,  the  League  becoming  louder  and  more  ur- 
gent in  its  demands,  Ferdinand,  in  1629,  signed  the 
Edict  of  Restitution  (so  famous  by  its  disastrous  conse- 
quences), which  he  had  previously  laid  before  the  four 
Roman  Catholic  electors  for  their  approbation.  In  the 
preamble,  he  claimed  the  prerogative,  in  right  of  his 
imperial  authority,  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  the  re- 
ligious treaty,  the  ambiguities  of  which  had  already 
caused  so  many  disputes,  and  to  decide  as  supreme  arbi- 
ter and  judge  between  the  contending  parties.  This 
prerogative  he  founded  upon  the  practice  of  his  ances- 
tors, and  its  previous  recognition  even  by  Protestant 
states.  Saxony  had  actually  acknowledged  this  right  of 
the  emperor ;  and  it  now  became  evident  how  deeply 
this  court  had  injured  the  Protestant  cause  by  its  de- 
pendence on  the  House  of  Austria.  But  though  the 
meaning  of  the  religious  treaty  was  really  ambiguous, 
as  a  century  of  religious  disputes  sufficiently  proved, 
yet  for  the  emperor,  who  must  be  either  a  Protestant  or 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  therefore  an  interested  party,  to 
assume  the  right  of  deciding  between  the  disputants,  was 
clearly  a  violation  of  an  essential  article  of  the  pacifica- 
tion. He  could  not  be  judge  in  his  own  cause,  without 
reducing  the  liberties  of  the  empire  to  an  empty  sound. 

And  now,  in  virtue  of  this  usurpation,  Ferdinand  de- 
cided, "  That  every  secularization  of  a  religious  founda- 
tion, mediate  or  immediate,  by  the  Protestants,  subse- 
quent to  the  date  of  the  treaty,  was  contrary  to  Its 
spirit,  and  must  be  revoked  as  a  breach  of  it."  He  fur- 
ther decided,  "  That,  by  the  religious  peace,  Catholic 
proprietors  of  estates  were  no  further  bound  to  their 
Protestant  subjects  than  to  allow  them  full  liberty  to 
quit  their  territories."  In  obedience  to  this  decision, 
all  unlawful  possessors  of  benefices — the  Protestant 
states,  in  short,  without  exception — were  ordered,  under 
pain  of  the  ban  of  the  empire,  immediately  to  surrender 
their  usurped  possesions  to  the  imperial  commissioners. 


120  SCHJLLEfwS    TüiUTY     Y  E  A  i,  :/  WAR. 


This  sentence  applied  to  no  less  than  two  archbish- 
oprics and  twelve  bishoprics,  beside  innumerable  abba- 
cies. The  edict  came  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the  whole 
of  Protestant  Germany;  dreadful  even  in  its  immediate 
consequences  ;  but  yet  more  so  from  the  further  calam- 
ities it  seemed  to  threaten.  The  Protestants  were  now 
convinced  that  the  suppression  of  their  religion  had 
been  resolved  on  by  the  emperor  and  the  League,  and 
that  the  overthrow  of  German  liberty  would  soon  follow. 
Their  remonstrances  were  unheeded :  the  commis- 
sioners were  named,  and  an  army  assembled  to  enforce 
obedience.  The  edict  was  first  put  in  force  in  Augs- 
burg, where  the  treaty  was  concluded ;  the  city  was 
again  placed  under  the  government  of  its  bishop,  and 
six  Protestant  churches  in  the  town  were  closed.  The 
Duke  of  Wirtemburg  was,  in  like  manner,  compelled 
to  surrender  his  abbacies.  These  severe  measures, 
though  they  alarmed  the  Protestant  states,  were  yet 
insufficient  to  rouse  them  to  an  active  resistance.  Their 
fear  of  the  emperor  was  too  strong,  and  many  were  dis- 
posed to  quiet  submission.  The  hope  of  attaining  their 
end  by  gentle  measures,  induced  the  Roman  Catholics 
likewise  to  delay  for  a  year  the  execution  of  the  edict, 
and  this  saved  the  Protestants ;  before  the  end  of  that 
period,  the  success  of  the  Swedish  arms  had  totally 
changed  the  state  of  affairs. 

In  a  Diet  held  at  Ratisbon,  at  which  Ferdinand  was 
present  in  person  (in  1630),  the  necessity  of  taking  some 
measures  for  the  immediate  restoration  of  the  general 
peace  to  Germany,  and  for  the  removal  of  all  grievances, 
was  debated.  The  complaints  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
were  scarcely  less  numerous  than  those  of  the  Protes- 
tants, however  Ferdinand  had  flattered  himself  that  by 
the  Edict  of  Restitution  he  had  secured  the  members 
of  the  League,  and  its  leader  by  the  gift  of  the  electoral 
dignity,  and  the  cession  of  great  part  of  the  Palatinate. 
But  the  good  understanding  between  the  emperor  and 
the  princes  of  the  League  had  rapidly  declined  since 
the  employment  of  Wallenstein.  Accustomed  to  give 
law  to  Germany,  and  even  to  sway  the  emperor's  own 
destiny,  the  haughty  Elector  of  Bavaria  now  at  once  saw 
himself  supplanted  by  the  imperial  general,  and,  with 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


121 


that  of  the  League,  his  own  importance  completely  un- 
dermined. Another  had  now  stepped  in  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  his  victories,  and  to  bury  his  past  services  in 
oblivion.  Wallenstein's  imperious  character,  whose 
dearest  triumph  was  in  degrading  the  authority  of 
Maximilian,  and  giving  an  odious  latitude  to  that  of  the 
emperor,  tended  not  a  little  to  augment  the  irritation  of 
the  elector.  Discontented  with  the  emperor,  and  dis- 
trustful of  his  intentions,  he  had  entered  into  an  alliance 
with  France,  which  the  other  members  of  the  League 
were  suspected  of  favoring.  A  fear  of  the  emperor's 
plans  of  aggrandizement,  and  discontent  with  existing 
evils,  had  extinguished  among  them  all  feelings  of  grat- 
itude. Wallenstein's  exactions  had  become  altogether 
intolerable.  Brandenburg  estimated  its  losses  at  twenty, 
Pomerania  at  ten,  Hesse  Cassel  at  seven  millions  of 
dollars,  and  the  rest  in  proportion.  The  cry  for  redress 
was  loud,  urgent,  and  universal ;  all  prejudices  were 
hushed  ;  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  were  united 
on  this  point.  The  terrified  emperor  was  assailed  on  all 
sides  by  petitions  against  Wallenstein,  and  his  ear  filled 
with  the  most  fearful  descriptions  of  his  outrages. 
Ferdinand  was  not  naturally  cruel.  If  not  totally  inno- 
cent of  the  atrocities  which  were  practiced  in  Germany 
under  the  shelter  of  Iiis  name,  he  was  ignorant  of  their 
extent;  and  he  was  not  long  in  yielding  to  the  represen- 
tations of  the  princes,  and  reduced  his  standing  army  by 
eighteen  thousand  cavalry.  While  this  reduction  took 
place,  the  Swedes  were  actively  preparing  an  expedition 
into  Germany,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  disbanded  im- 
perialists enlisted  under  their  banners. 

The  emperor's  concessions  only  encouraged  the  Elect- 
or of  Bavaria  to  bolder  demands.  So  long  as  the  Duke 
of  Friedland  retained  the  supreme  command,  his  tri- 
umph over  the  emperor  was  incomplete.  The  princes 
of  the  League  were  meditating  a  severe  revenge  on 
Wallenstein  for  that  haughtiness  with  which  he  had 
treated  them  all  alike.  His  dismissal  was  demanded 
by  the  whole  college  of  electors,  and  even  by  Spain, 
with  a  degree  of  unanimity  and  urgency  which  aston- 
ished the  emperor.  The  anxiety  with  which  Wallen- 
stein's enemies  pressed  for  his  dismissal,  ought  to  have 


122       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


convinced  the  emperor  of  the  importance  of  his  services. 
Wallenstein,  informed  of  the  cabals  which  were  forming 
against  him  in  Ratisbon,  lost  no  time  in  opening  the  eyes 
of  the  emperor  to  the  real  views  of  the  Elector  of  Ba- 
varia. He  himself  appeared  in  Ratisbon,  with  a  pomp 
which  threw  his  master  into  the  shade,  and  increased 
the  hatred  of  his  opponents. 

Long  was  the  emperor  undecided.  The  sacrifice  de- 
manded was  a  painful  one.  To  the  Duke  of  Friedland 
alone  he  owed  his  preponderance;  he  felt  how  much 
he  would  lose  in  yielding  him  to  the  indignation  of  the 
princes.  But  at  this  moment,  unfortunately,  he  was 
under  the  necessity  of  conciliating  the  electors.  His  son 
Ferdinand  had  already  been  chosen  King  of  Hungary, 
and  he  was  endeavoring  to  procure  his  election  as  his 
successor  in  the  empire.  For  this  purpose,  the  support 
of  Maximilian  was  indispensable.  This  consideration 
was  the  weightiest,  and  to  oblige  the  Elector  of  Bavaria 
he  scrupled  not  to  sacrifice  his  most  valuable  servant. 

At  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon,  there  were  present  ambas- 
sadors from  France,  empowered  to  adjust  the  differences 
which  seemed  to  menace  a  war  in  Italy  between  the 
emperor  and  their  sovereign.  Vincent,  Duke  of  Man- 
tua and  Montferrat,  dying  without  issue,  his  next  rela- 
tion, Charles,  Duke  of  Nevers,  had  taken  possession  of 
this  inheritance,  without  doing  homage  to  the  emperor 
as  liege  lord  of  the  principality.  Encouraged  by  the 
support  of  France  and  Venice,  he  refused  to  surrender 
these  territories  into  the  hands  of  the  imperial  commis- 
sioners, until  his  title  to  them  should  be  decided.  On 
the  other  hand,  Ferdinand  had  taken  up  arms  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  Spaniards,  to  whom,  as  possessors  of 
Milan,  the  near  neighborhood  of  a  vassal  of  France  was 
peculiarly  alarming,  and  who  welcomed  this  prospect  of 
making,  with  the  assistance  of  the  emperor,  additional 
conquests  in  Italy.  In  spite  of  all  the  exertions  of  Pope 
Urban  VIII.  to  avert  a  war  in  that  country,  Ferdinand 
marched  a  German  army  across  the  Alps,  and  threw  the 
Italian  states  into  a  general  consternation.  His  arms 
had  been  successful  throughout  Germany,  and  exagger- 
ated fears  revived  the  olden  apprehension  of  Austria's 
projects  of  universal  monarchy.    All  the  horrors  of  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


123 


German  war  now  spread  like  a  deluge  over  those  favored 
countries  which  the  Po  waters  ;  Mantua  was  taken  by 
storm,  and  the  surrounding  districts  given  up  to  the  rav- 
ages of  a  lawless  soldiery.  The  curse  of  Italy  was  thus 
added  to  the  maledictions  upon  the  emperor  which  re- 
sounded through  Germany  ;  and  even  in  the  Roman 
Conclave,  silent  prayers  were  offered  for  the  success  of 
the  Protestant  arms. 

Alarmed  by  the  universal  hatred  which  this  Italian 
campaign  had  drawn  upon  him,  and  wearied  out  by  the 
urgent  remonstrances  of  the  electors,  who  zealously 
supported  the  application  of  the  French  ambassador, 
the  emperor  promised  the  investiture  to  the  new  Duke 
of  Mantua. 

This  important  service  on  the  part  of  Bavaria,  of 
course,  required  an  equivalent  from  France.  The  ad- 
justment of  the  treaty  gave  the  envoys  of  Richelieu, 
during  their  residence  in  Ratisbon,  the  desired  oppor- 
tunity of  entangling  the  emperor  in  dangerous  intrigues, 
of  inflaming  the  discontented  princes  of  the  League  still 
more  strongly  against  him,  and  of  turning  to  his  disad- 
vantage all  the  transactions  of  the  Diet.  For  this  pur- 
pose Richelieu  had  chosen  an  admirable  instrument  in 
Father  Joseph,  a  Capuchin  friar,  who  accompanied  the 
ambassadors  without  exciting  the  least  suspicion.  One 
of  his  principal  instructions  was  assiduously  to  bring 
about  the  dismissal  of  Wallenstein.  With  the  general 
who  had  led  it  to  victory,  the  army  of  Austria  would 
lose  its  principal  strength  ;  many  armies  could  not  com- 
pensate for  the  loss  of  this  individual.  It  would  there- 
fore be  a  master-stroke  of  policy,  at  the  very  moment 
when  a  victorious  monarch,  the  absolute  master  of  his 
operations,  was  arming  against  the  emperor,  to  remove 
from  the  head  of  the  imperial  armies  the  only  general 
who,  by  ability  and  military  experience,  was  able  to  cope 
with  the  French  king.  Father  Joseph,  in  the  interests 
of  Bavaria,  undertook  to  overcome  the  irresolution  of  the 
emperor,  who  was  now  in  a  manner  besieged  by  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Electoral  Council.  "  It  would  be 
expedient,"  he  thought,  "  to  gratify  the  electors  on  this 
occasion,  and  thereby  facilitate  his  son's  election  to  the 
Roman  crown.     This  object  once  gained,  Wallenstein 


12\        schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


could  at  any  time  resume  his  former  station."  The 
artful  Capuchin  was  too  sure  of  his  man  to  touch  upon 
this  ground  of  consolation. 

The  voice  of  a  monk  was  to  Ferdinand  II.  the  voice 
of  God.  "Nothing  on  earth,"  writes  his  own  confessor, 
"  was  more  sacred  in  his  eyes  than  a  priest.  If  it  could 
happen,  he  used  to  say,  that  an  angel  and  a  Regular 
were  to  meet  him  at  the  same  time  and  place,  the 
Regular  should  receive  his  first,  and  the  angel  his  sec- 
ond obeisance."  Wallenstein's  dismissal  was  determin- 
ed upon. 

In  return  for  this  pious  concession,  the  Capuchin 
dextrously  counteracted  the  emperor's  scheme  to  pro- 
cure for  the  King  of  Hungary  the  further  dignity  of 
King  of  the  Romans.  In  an  express  clause  of  the 
treaty  just  concluded,  the  French  ministers  engaged 
in  the  name  of  their  sovereign  to  observe  a  complete 
neutrality  between  the  emperor  and  his  enemies ;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  Richelieu  was  actually  negotiating 
with  the  King  of  Sweden  to  declare  war,  and  pressing 
upon  him  the  alliance  of  his  master.  The  latter,  in- 
deed, disavowed  the  lie  as  soon  as  it  had  served  its  pur- 
pose, and  Father  Joseph,  confined  to  a  convent,  must 
atone  for  the  alleged  offense  of  exceeding  his  instruc- 
tions. Ferdinand  perceived,  when  too  late,  that  he  had 
been  imposed  upon.  "  A  wicked  Capuchin,"  he  was 
heard  to  say,  "  has  disarmed  me  with  his  rosary,  and 
thrust  nothing  less  than  six  electoral  crowns  into  his 
cowl." 

Artifice  and  trickery  thus  triumphed  over  the  em- 
peror, at  the  moment  when  he  was  believed  to  be  om- 
nipotent in  Germany,  and  actually  was  so  in  the  field. 
With  the  loss  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  and  of  a  gen- 
eral who  alone  was  worth  whole  armies,  he  left  Ratisbon 
without  gaining  the  end  for  which  he  had  made  such 
sacrifices.  Before  the  Swedes  had  vanquished  him  in 
the  field,  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  and  Father  Joseph  had 
given  him  a  mortal  blow.  At  this  memorable  Diet  at 
Ratisbon  the  war  with  Sweden  was  resolved  upon,  and 
lhat  of  Mantua  terminated.  Vainly  had  the  princes 
present  at  it  interceded  for  the  dukes  of  Mecklenburg ; 
and  equally  fruitless  had  been  an  application  by  the 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


125 


English  ambassadors  for  a  pension  to  the  Palatine 
Frederick. 

Wallenstein  was  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  nearly  a 
hundred  thousand  men  who  adored  him,  when  the  sen- 
tence of  his  dismissal  arrived.  Most  of  the  officers  were 
his  creatures — with  the  common  soldiers  his  hint  was 
law.  His  ambition  was  boundless,  his  pride  indomitable, 
his  imperious  spirit  could  not  brook  an  injury  unavenged. 
One  moment  would  now  precipitate  him  from  the  height 
of  grandeur  into  the  obscurity  of  a  private  station.  To 
execute  such  a  sentence  upon  such  a  delinquent  seemed 
to  require  more  address  than  it  cost  to  obtain  it  from  the 
judge.  Accordingly,  two  of  Wallenstein's  most  intimate 
friends  were  selected  as  heralds  of  these  evil  tidings, 
and  instructed  to  soften  them  as  much  as  possible,  by 
flattering  assurances  of  the  continuance  of  the  emperor's 
favor. 

Wallenstein  had  ascertained  the  purport  of  their  mes- 
sage before  the  imperial  ambassadors  arrived.  He  had 
time  to  collect  himself,  and  his  countenance  exhibited  an 
external  calmness,  while  grief  and  rage  were  storming 
in  his  bosom.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  obey.  The 
emperor's  decision  had  taken  him  by  surprise  before  cir- 
cumstances were  ripe,  or  his  preparations  complete,  for 
the  bold  measures  he  had  contemplated.  His  extensive 
estates  were  scattered  over  Bohemia  and  Moravia ;  and, 
by  their  confiscation,  the  emperor  might  at  once  destroy 
the  sinews  of  his  power.  He  looked,  therefore,  to  the 
future  for  revenge  ;  and  in  this  hope  he  was  encouraged 
by  the  predictions  of  an  Italian  astrologer,  who  led  his 
imperious  spirit  like  a  child  in  leading  strings.  Seni  had 
read  in  the  stars,  that  his  master's  brilliant  career  was 
not  yet  ended ;  and  that  bright  and  glorious  prospects 
still  awaited  him.  It  was,  indeed,  unnecessary  to  con- 
sult the  stars  to  foretell  that  an  enemy,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  would  ere  long  render  indispensable  the  services 
of  such  a  general  as  Wallenstein. 

"  The  emperor  is  betrayed,"  said  Wallenstein  to  the 
messengers  ;  "I  pity,  but  forgive  him.  It  is  plain  that 
the  grasping  spirit  of  the  Bavarian  dictates  to  him.  I 
grieve  that,  with  so  much,  weakness,  he  has  sacrificed 
me ;  but  I  will  obey."  He  dismissed  the  emissaries 
1,2 


12Ö  «CHILLElt's  THIRTY  YE.Uiti'  WAR. 

with  princely  presents  ;  and  in  a  humble  letter  besought 
the  continuance  of  the  emperor's  favor,  and  of  the  dig- 
nities he  had  bestowed  upon  him. 

The  murmurs  of  the  army  were  universal,  on  hear- 
ing of  the  dismissal  of  their  general ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  officers  immediately  quitted  the  imperial  ser- 
vice. Many  followed  him  to  his  estates  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia ;  others  he  attached  to  his  interests  by  pensions, 
in  order  to  command  their  services  when  the  opportunity 
should  öfter. 

But  repose  was  the  last  thing  that  Wallenstein  con- 
templated when  he  returned  to  private  life.  In  his 
retreat  he  surrounded  himself  with  a  regal  pomp,  which 
seemed  to  mock  the  sentence  of  degradation.  Six  gates 
led  to  the  palace  he  inhabited  in  Prague,  and  a  hundred 
houses  were  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  his  court-yard. 
Similar  palaces  were  built  on  his  other  numerous  estates. 
Gentlemen  of  the  noblest  houses  contended  for  the 
honor  of  serving  him,  and  even  imperial  chamberlains 
resigned  the  golden  key  to  the  emperor,  to  fill  a  similar 
office  under  Wallenstein.  He  maintained  sixty  pages, 
who  were  instructed  by  the  ablest  masters.  His  ante- 
chamber was  protected  by  fifty  life  guards.  His  table 
never  consisted  of  less  than  one  hundred  covers,  and  his 
seneschal  was  a  person  of  distinction.  When  he  traveled, 
his  baggage  and  suite  accompanied  him  in  a  hundred 
wagons,  drawn  by  six  or  four  horses  ;  his  court  followed 
in  sixty  carriages,  attended  by  fifty  led  horses.  The 
pomp  of  his  liveries,  the  splendor  of  his  equipages,  and 
the  decorations  of  his  apartments,  were  in  keeping  with 
all  the  rest.  Six  barons  and  as  many  knights  were  in 
constant  attendance  about  his  person,  and  ready  to  exe- 
cute his  slightest  order.  Twelve  patrols  went  their 
rounds  about  the  palace,  to  prevent  any  disturbance. 
His  busy  genius  required  silence.  The  noise  of  coaches 
was  to  be  kept  away  from  his  residence,  and  the  streets 
leading  to  it  were  frequently  blocked  up  with  chains.  His 
own  circle  was  as  silent  as  the  approaches  to  his  palace: 
dark,  reserved,  and  impenetrable,  he  was  more  sparing 
of  his  words  than  of  his  gifts  ;  while  the  little  that  he 
spoke  was  harsh  and  imperious.  He  never  smiled,  and 
the  coldness  of  his  temperament  was  proof  against  sens- 


schiller's  thirty  years  war. 


127 


ual  seductions.  Ever  occupied  with  grand  schemes,  he 
despised  all  those  idle  amusements  in  which  so  many 
waste  their  lives.  The  correspondence  he  kept  up  with 
the  whole  of  Europe  was  chiefly  managed  by  himself, 
and,  that  as  little  as  possible  might  be  trusted  to  the 
silence  of  others,  most  of  the  letters  were  written  by  his 
own  hand.  He  was  a  man  of  large  stature,  thin,  of  a 
sallow  complexion,  with  short,  red  hair,  and  small  spark- 
ling eyes.  A  gloomy  and  forbidding  seriousness  sat 
upon  bis  brow  ;  and  his  magnificent  presents  alone  re- 
tained the  trembling  crowd  of  his  dependents. 

In  this  stately  obscurity  did  Wallenstein  silently,  but 
not  inactively,  await  the  hour  of  revenge.  The  victo- 
rious career  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  soon  gave  him  a  pre- 
sentiment of  its  approach.  Not  one  of  his  lofty  schemes 
had  been  abandoned  ;  and  the  emperor's  ingratitude  had 
loosened  the  curb  of  his  ambition.  The  dazzling  splen- 
dor of  his  private  life  bespoke  high-soaring  projects  ;  and, 
lavish  as  a  king,  he  seemed  already  to  reckon  among  his 
certain  possessions  those  which  he  contemplated  with 
hope. 

After  Wallenstein's  dismissal,  and  the  invasion  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  a  new  generalissimo  was  to  be  ap- 
pointed ;  and  it  now  appeared  advisable  to  unite  both 
the  imperial  army  and  that  of  the  League  under  one 
general.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  sought  this  appoint- 
ment, which  would  have  enabled  him  to  dictate  to  the 
emperor,  who,  from  a  conviction  of  this,  wished  to  pro- 
cure the  command  for  his  eldest  son,  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary. At  last,  in  order  to  avoid  offense  to  either  of  the 
competitors,  the  appointment  was  given  to  Tilly,  who  now 
exchanged  the  Bavarian  for  the  Austrian  service.  The 
imperial  army  in  Germany,  after  the  retirement  of  Wal- 
lenstein, amounted  to  about  forty  thousand  men  ;  that  of 
the  League  to  nearly  the  same  number,  both  commanded 
by  excellent  officers,  trained  by  the  experience  of  several 
campaigns,  and  proud  of  a  long  series  of  victories.  With 
such  a  force,  little  apprehension  was  felt  at  the  invasion 
of  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  the  less  so  as  it  commanded 
both  Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg,  the  only  countries 
through  which  he  could  enter  Germany. 

After  the  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the  King  of  Den- 


128 


schillere  thirty  years'  war. 


mark  to  check  the  emperor's  progress,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  was  the  only  prince  in  Europe  from  whom  op- 
pressed liberty  could  look  for  protection— the  only  one 
who,  while  he  was  personally  qualified  to  conduct  such 
an  enterprise,  had  both  political  motives  to  recommend 
and  wrongs  to  justify  it.  Before  the  commencement  of 
the  war  in  Lower  Saxony,  important  political  interests 
induced  him,  as  well  as  the  King  of  Denmark,  to  offer 
his  services  and  his  army  for  the  defense  of  Germany  ; 
but  the  offer  of  the  latter  had,  to  his  own  misfortune, 
been  preferred.  Since  that  time,  Wallenstein  and  the 
emperor  had  adopted  measures  which  must  have  been 
equally  offensive  to  him  as  a  man  and  as  a  king.  Impe- 
rial troops  had  been  dispatched  to  the  aid  of  the  Polish 
king,  Sigismund,  to  defend  Prussia  against  the  Swedes. 
When  the  king  complained  to  Wallenstein  of  this  act  of 
hostility,  he  received  for  answer,  "  The  emperor  has 
more  soldiers  than  he  wants  for  himself ;  he  must  help 
his  friends."  The  Swedish  ambassadors  had  been  inso- 
lently ordered  by  Wallenstein  to  withdraw  from  the  con- 
ference at  Lübeck :  and  when,  unawed  by  this  com- 
mand, they  were  courageous  enough  to  remain,  contrary 
to  the  law  of  nations,  he  had  threatened  them  with  vio- 
lence. Ferdinand  had  also  insulted  the  Swedish  flag, 
and  intercepted  the  king's  dispatches  to  Transylvania. 
He  also  threw  eveiy  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  peace  be- 
tween Poland  and  Sweden,  supported  the  pretensions 
of  Sigismund  to  the  Swedish  throne,  and  denied  the 
right  of  Gustavus  to  the  title  of  king.  Deigning  no  re- 
gard to  the  repeated  remonstrances  of  Gustavus,  he 
rather  aggravated  the  offense  by  new  grievances,  than 
acceded  the  required  satisfaction. 

So  many  personal  motives,  supported  by  important 
considerations,  both  of  policy  and  religion,  and  seconded 
by  pressing  invitations  from  Germany,  had  their  ful 
weight  with  a  prince,  who  was  naturally  the  more  jeal- 
ous of  his  royal  prerogative  the  more  it  was  questioned, 
who  was  flattered  by  the  glory  he  hoped  to  gain  as  Pro- 
tector of  the  Oppressed,  and  passionately  loved  war  as 
the  element  of  his  genius.  But,  until  a  truce  or  peace 
with  Poland  should  set  his  hands  free,  a  new  and  dan- 
gerous war  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  129 

Cardinal  Richelieu  had  the  merit  of  effecting  this 
truce  with  Poland.  This  great  statesman,  who  guided 
the  helm  of  Europe,  while  in  France  he  repressed  the 
rage  of  faction  and  the  insolence  of  the  nobles,  pursued 
steadily,  amid  the  cares  of  a  stormy  administration,  his 
plan  of  lowering  the  ascendency  of  the  House  of  Aus- 
tria. But  circumstances  opposed  considerable  obstacles 
to  the  execution  of  his  designs ;  and  even  the  greatest 
minds  cannot,  with  impunity,  defy  the  prejudices  of  the 
age.  The  minister  of  a  Roman  Catholic  king,  and  a 
cardinal,  he  was  prevented  by  the  purple  he  bore  from 
joining  the  enemies  of  that  church  ki  an  open  attack  on 
a  power  which  had  the  address  to  sanctify  its  ambitious 
encroachments  under  the  name  of  religion.  The  ex- 
ternal deference  which  Richelieu  was  obliged  to  pay  to 
the  narrow  views  of  his  contemporaries  limited  his  ex- 
ertions to  secret  negotiations,  by  which  he  endeavored 
to  gain  the  hand  of  others  to  accomplish  the  enlighten- 
ed projects  of  his  own  mind.  After  a  fruitless  attempt 
to  prevent  the  peace  between  Denmark  and  the  em- 
peror, he  had  recourse  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero 
of  his  age.  No  exertion  was  spared  to  bring  this  mon- 
arch to  a  favorable  decision,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
facilitate  the  execution  of  it.  Charnasse,  an  unsuspect- 
ed agent  of  the  cardinal,  proceeded  to  Polish  Prussia, 
where  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  conducting  the  war 
against  Sigismund,  and  alternately  visited  these  princes, 
in  order  to  persuade  them  to  a  truce  or  peace.  Gusta- 
vus had  been  long  inclined  to  it,  and  the  French  minis- 
ter succeeded  at  last  in  ©pening  the  eyes  of  Sigismund 
to  his  true  interest,  and  to  the  deceitful  policy  of  the 
emperor.  A  truce  for  six  years  was  agreed  on,  Gusta- 
vus being  allowed  to  retain  all  his  conquests.  This 
treaty  gave  him  also  what  he  had  so  long  desired,  the 
liberty  of  directing  his  arms  against  the  emperor.  Foi- 
this  the  French  ambassador  offered  him  the  alliance  of 
his  sovereign  and  considerable  subsidies.  But  Gustavus 
Adolphus  was  justly  apprehensive  lest  the  acceptance 
of  the  assistance  should  make  him  dependent  upon 
France,  and  fetter  him  in  his  career  of  conquest,  while 
an  alliance  with  a  Roman  Catholic  power  might  excite 
distrust  among  the  Protestants. 
9 


ISO      Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


If  the  war  was  just  and  necessary,  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  undertaken  were  not  less  promis- 
ing. The  name  of  the  emperor,  it  is  true,  was  formid- 
able, his  resources  inexhaustible,  his  power  hitherto 
invincible.  So  dangerous  a  contest  would  have  dismay- 
ed any  other  than  Gustavus.  He  saw  all  the  obstacles 
and  dangers  which  opposed  his  undertaking;  but  he 
knew  also  the  means  by  which,  as  he  hoped,  they  might 
be  conquered.  His  army,  though  not  numerous,  was 
well  disciplined,  inured  to  hardship  by  a  severe  climate 
and  campaigns,  and  trained  to  victory  in  the  war  with 
Poland.  Sweden,  though  poor  in  men  and  money,  and 
overtaxed  by  an  eight  years'  war,  was  devoted  to  its 
monarch  with  an  enthusiasm  which  assured  him  of  the 
ready  support  of  his  subjects.  In  Germany,  the  name 
of  the  emperor  was  at  least  as  much  hated  as  feared. 
The  Protestant  princes  only  awaited  the  arrival  of  a 
deliverer  to  throw  off  his  intolerable  yoke,  and  openly 
declare  for  the  Swedes.  Even  the  Roman  Catholic 
states  would  welcome  an  antagonist  to  the  emperor, 
whose  opposition  might  control  his  overwhelming  influ- 
ence. The  first  victory  gained  on  German  ground 
would  be  decisive.  It  would  encourage  those  princes 
who  still  hesitated  to  declare  themselves,  strengthen  the 
cause  of  his  adherents,  augment  his  troops,  and  open 
resources  for  the  maintenance  of  the  campaign.  If  the 
greater  part  of  the  German  states  were  impoverished 
by  oppression,  the  flourishing  Hanse  towns  had  escaped, 
and  they  could  not  hesitate,  by  a  small  voluntary  sacri- 
fice, to  avert  the  general  ruin.  As  the  imperialists 
should  be  driven  from  the  different  provinces,  their 
armies  would  diminish,  since  they  were  subsisting  on 
the  countries  in  which  they  were  encamped.  The 
strength,  too.  of  the  emperor  had  been  lessened  by  ill- 
timed  detachments  to  Italy  and  the  Netherlands;  while 
Spain,  weakened  by  the  loss  of  the  Manilla  galleons, 
and  engaged  in  a  serious  war  in  the  Netherlands,  could 
afford  him  little  support.  Great  Britain,  on  the  other 
hand,  gave  the  King  of  Sweden  hope  of  considerable 
subsidies ;  and  France,  now  at  peace  with  itself,  came 
forward  with  the  most  favorable  offers. 

But  the  strongest  pledge  for  the  success  of  his  under- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


131 


taking  Gustavus  found — in  himself.  Prudence  demand- 
ed that  he  should  embrace  all  the  foreign  assistance  he 
could,  in  order  to  guard  his  enterprise  from  the  impu- 
tation of  rashness ;  but  all  his  confidence  and  courage 
were  entirely  derived  from  himself.  He  was  indispu- 
tably the  greatest  general  of  his  age,  and  the  bravest 
soldier  in  the  army  which  he  had  formed.  Familiar 
with  the  tactics  of  Greece  and  Rome,  he  had  discovered 
a  more  effective  system  of  warfare,  which  was  adopted 
as  a  model  by  the  most  eminent  commanders  of  subse- 
quent times.  He  reduced  the  unwieldy  squadrons  of 
cavalry,  and  rendered  their  movements  more  light  and 
rapid ;  and,  with  the  same  view,  he  widened  the  inter- 
vals between  his  battalions.  Instead  of  the  usual  array 
in  a  single  line,  he  disposed  his  forces  in  two  lines,  that 
the  second  might  advance  in  the  event  of  the  first  giv- 
ing way. 

He  made  up  for  his  want  of  cavalry,  by  placing  infan- 
try among  the  horse ;  a  practice  which  frequently  de- 
cided the  victory.  Europe  first  learned  from  him  the 
importance  of  infantry.  All  Germany  was  astonished 
at  the  strict  discipline  which,  at  the  first,  so  creditably 
distinguished  the  Swedish  army  within  their  territories  ; 
all  disorders  were  punished  with  the  utmost  severity, 
particularly  impiety,  theft,  gambling,  and  duelling.  The 
Swedish  articles  of  war  enforced  frugality.  In  the 
camp,  the  king's  tent  not  excepted,  neither  silver  nor 
gold  was  to  be  seen.  The  general's  eye  looked  as  vig- 
ilantly to  the  morals  as  to  the  martial  bravery  of  his  sol- 
diers ;  every  regiment  was  ordered  to  form  round  its 
chaplain  for  morning  and  evening  prayers.  In  all  these 
points  the  lawgiver  was  also  an  example.  A  sincere 
and  ardent  piety  exalted  his  courage.  Equally  free 
from  the  coarse  infidelity  which  leaves  the  passions  of 
the  barbarian  without  a  control — and  from  the  grovel- 
ing superstition  of  Ferdinand,  who  humbled  himself  to 
the  dust  before  the  Supreme  Being,  while  he  haught- 
ily trampled  on  his  fellow-creatures — in  the  height  of 
his  success  he  was  ever  a  man  and  a  Christian — in  the 
height  of  his  devotion,  a  king  and  a  hero.  The  hard- 
ships of  war  he  shared  with  the  meanest  soldier  in  his 
army;  maintained  a  calm  serenity  amid  the  hottest  fury 


132 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


of  battle  ;  his  glance  was  omnipresent,  and  he  intrepidly 
forgot  the  danger  while  he  exposed  himself  to  the  great- 
est peril.  His  natural  courage,  indeed,  too  often  forgot 
the  duty  of  a  general ;  and  the  life  of  a  king  ended  in 
the  death  of  a  common  soldier.  But  such  a  leader  was 
followed  to  victory  alike  by  the  coward  and  the  brave, 
and  his  eagle  glance  marked  every  heroic  deed  which 
his  example  had  inspired.  The  fame  of  their  sovereign 
excited  in  the  nation  an  enthusiastic  sense  of  their  own 
importance  ;  proud  of  their  king,  the  peasant  in  Finland 
and  Gothland  joyfully  contributed  his  pittance ;  the 
soldier  willingly  shed  his  blood ;  and  the  lofty  energy 
which  his  single  mind  had  imparted  to  the  nation  long 
survived  its  creator. 

The  necessity  of  the  war  was  acknowledged,  but  the 
best  plan  of  conducting  it  was  a  matter  of  much  ques- 
tion. Even  to  the  bold  Chancellor  Oxenstiern,  an  offen- 
sive war  appeared  too  daring  a  measure  ;  the  resources 
of  his  poor  and  conscientious  master  appeared  to  him 
too  slender  to  compete  with  those  of  a  despotic  sover- 
eign, who  held  all  Germany  at  his  command.  But  the 
minister's  timid  scruples  were  overruled  by  the  hero's 
penetrating  prudence.  "  If  we  await  the  enemy  in 
Sweden,"  said  Gustavus,  "  in  the  event  of  a  defeat  ev- 
ery thing  would  be  lost ;  by  a  fortunate  commencement 
in  Germany  every  thing  would  be  gained.  The  sea  is 
wide,  and  we  have  a  long  line  of  coast  in  Sweden  to 
defend.  If  the  enemy's  fleet  should  escape  us,  or  our 
own  be  defeated,  it  would,  in  either  case,  be  impossible 
to  prevent  the  enemy's  landing.  Every  thing  depends 
on  the  retention  of  Stralsund.  So  long  as  this  harbor 
is  open  to  us,  we  shall  both  command  the  Baltic  and 
secure  a  retreat  from  Germany.  But  to  protect  this 
port  we  must  not  remain  in  Sweden,  but  advance  at 
once  into  Pomerania.  Let  us  talk  no  more,  then,  of  a 
defensive  war,  by  which  we  should  sacrifice  our  great- 
est advantages.  Sweden  must  not  be  doomed  to  behold 
a  hostile  banner ;  if  we  are  vanquished  in  Germany,  it 
will  be  time  enough  to  follow  your  plan." 

Gustavus  resolved  to  cross  the  Baltic  and  attack  the 
emperor.  His  preparations  were  made  with  the  utmost 
expedition,  and  his  precautionary  measures  were  not 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  133 


ess  prudent  than  the  resolution  itself  was  bold  and  mag- 
nanimous. Before  engaging  in  so  distant  a  war,  it  was 
necessaiy  to  secure  Sweden  against  its  neighbors.  At 
a  personal  interview  with  the  King  of  Denmark  at  Mar- 
karoed,  Gustavus  assured  himself  of  the  friendship  of 
that  monarch  ;  his  frontier,  on  the  side  of  Moscow,  was 
well  guarded ;  Poland  might  be  held  in  check  from 
Germany,  if  it  betrayed  any  design  of  infringing  the 
truce.  Falkenberg,  a  Swedish  ambassador,  who  visited 
the  courts  of  Holland  and  Germany,  obtained  the  most 
flattering  promises  from  several  Protestant  princes, 
though  none  of  them  yet  possessed  courage  or  self- 
devotion  enough  to  enter  into  a  formal  alliance  with 
him.  Lübeck  and  Hamburg  engaged  to  advance  him 
money,  and  to  accept  Swedish  copper  in  return. 
Emissaries  were  also  dispatched  to  the  Prince  of 
Transylvania  to  excite  that  implacable  enemy  of  Austria 
to  arms. 

In  the  mean  time,  Swedish  levies  were  made  in  Ger- 
many and  the  Netherlands,  the  regiments  increased  to 
their  full  complement,  new  ones  raised,  transports  pro- 
vided, a  fleet  fitted  out,  provisions,  military  stores,  aud 
money  collected.  Thirty  ships  of  war  were  in  a  short 
time  prepared,  fifteen  thousand  men  equipped,  and  two 
hundred  transports  were  ready  to  convey  them  across 
the  Baltic.  A  greater  force  Gustavus  Adolphus  was 
unwilling  to  carry  into  Germany,  and  even  the  mainte- 
nance of  this  exceeded  the  revenues  of  his  kingdom. 
But,  however  small  his  army,  it  was  admirable  in  all 
points  of  discipline,  courage,  and  experience,  and  might 
serve  as  the  nucleus  of  a  more  powerful  armament,  if  it 
once  gained  the  German  frontier,  and  its  first  attempts 
were  attended  with  success.  Oxenstiern,  at  once  gen- 
eral and  chancellor,  was  posted,  with  ten  thousand  men, 
in  Prussia,  to  protect  that  province  against  Poland. 
Some  regular  troops,  and  a  considerable  body  of  militia, 
which  served  as  a  nursery  for  the  main  body,  remained 
in  Sweden,  as  a  defense  against  a  sudden  invasion  by 
any  treacherous  neighbor. 

These  were  the  measures  taken  for  the  external  de- 
fense of  the  kingdom.  Its  internal  administration  was 
provided  for  with  equal  care.    The  government  was  in- 

ivr 


134       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

trusted  to  the  council  of  state,  and  the  finances  to  the 
Palatine  John  Casimir,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  king, 
while  his  wife,  tenderly  as  he  was  attached  to  her,  was 
excluded  from  all  share  in  the  government,  for  which 
her  limited  talents  incapacitated  her.  He  set  his  house 
in  order  like  a  dying  man.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1630, 
when  all  his  measures  were  arranged,  and  all  was  ready 
for  his  departure,  the  king  appeared  in  the  Diet  at 
Stockholm,  to  bid  the  states  a  solemn  farewell.  Taking 
in  his  arms  his  daughter  Christina,  then  only  four  years 
old,  who,  in  the  cradle,  had  been  acknowledged  as  his 
successor,  he  presented  her  to  the  states  as  the  future 
sovereign,  exacted  from  them  a  renewal  of  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  her,  in  case  he  should  never  more  return ; 
and  then  read  the  ordinances  for  the  government  of  the 
kingdom  during  his  absence,  or  the  minority  of  his  daugh- 
ter. The  whole  assembly  was  dissolved  in  tears,  and 
the  king  himself  was  some  time  before  he  could  attain 
sufficient  composure  to  deliver  his  farewell  address  to 
the  states. 

"  Not  lightly  nor  wantonly,"  said  he,  "  am  I  about  to 
involve  myself  and  you  in  this  new  and  dangerous  war  : 
God  is  my  witness  that  /  do  not  fight  to  gratify  my  own 
ambition.  But  the  emperor  has  wronged  me  most 
shamefully  in  the  person  of  my  ambassador.  He  has 
supported  my  enemies,  persecuted  my  friends  and  breth- 
ren, trampled  my  religion  in  the  dust,  and  even  stretched 
his  revengeful  arm  against  my  crown.  The  oppressed 
states  of  Germany  call  loudly  for  aid,  which,  by  God's 
help,  we  will  give  them. 

"  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  dangers  to  which  my  life 
will  be  exposed.  I  have  never  yet  shrank  from  them, 
nor  is  it  likely  that  I  shall  escape  them  all.  Hitherto, 
Providence  has  wonderfully  protected  me  ;  but  I  shall 
at  last  fall  in  defence  of  my  country.  I  commend  you 
to  the  protection  of  Heaven.  Be  just,  be  conscientious, 
act  uprightly,  and  we  shall  meet  again  in  eternity. 

"  To  you,  my  counselors  of  state,  I  address  myself 
first.  May  God  enlighten  you,  and  fill  you  with  wis- 
dom, to  promote  the  welfare  of  my  people.  You,  too, 
my  brave  nobles,  I  commend  to  the  divine  protection. 
Continue  to  prove  yourselves  the  worthy  successors  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  135 


those  Gothic  heroes,  whose  bravery  humbled  to  the 
dust  the  pride  of  ancient  Rome.  To  you,  ministers  of 
religion,  I  recommend  moderation  and  unity ;  be  your- 
selves examples  of  the  virtues  which  you  preach,  and 
abuse  not  your  influence  over  the  minds  of  my  people. 
On  you,  deputies  of  the  burgesses  and  the  peasantry,  I 
entreat  the  blessing  of  heaven ;  may  your  industry  be 
rewarded  by  a  prosperous  harvest ;  your  stores  plente- 
ously  filled,  and  may  you  be  crowned  abundantly  with 
all  the  blessings  of  this  life.  For  the  prosperity  of  all 
my  subjects,  absent  and  present,  I  offer  my  warmest 
prayers  to  Heaven.  I  bid  you  all  a  sincere — it  may  be 
an  eternal  farewell." 

The  embarkation  of  the  troops  took  place  at  Elfskna- 
ben,  where  the  fleet  lay  at  anchor.  An  immense  con- 
course flocked  thither  to  witness  this  magnificent  spec- 
tacle. The  hearts  of  the  spectators  were  agitated  by 
varied  emotions,  as  they  alternately  considered  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  enterprise,  and  the  greatness  of  the  leader. 
Among  the  superior  officers  who  commanded  in  this 
army  were  Gustavus  Horn,  the  Rhinegrave  Otto  Lewis, 
Henry  Matthias,  Count  Thum,  Ottenberg,  Baudissen, 
Banner,  Teufel,  Tott,  Mutsenfahl,  Falkenberg,  Kemp- 
hausen, and  other  distinguished  names.  Detained  by 
contrary  winds,  the  fleet  did  not  sail  till  June,  and  on 
the  24th  of  that  month  reached  the  island  of  Rügen  in 
Pomerania. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  was  the  first  who  landed.  In  the 
presence  of  his  suite  he  knelt  on  the  shore  of  Germany, 
to  return  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  the  safe  arrival  of 
his  fleet  and  his  army.  He  landed  his  troops  on  the 
islands  of  Woilin  and  Usedom  ;  upon  his  approach,  the 
imperial  garrisons  abandoned  their  entrenchments  and 
fled.  He  advanced  rapidly  on  Stettin,  to  secure  this 
important  place  before  the  appearance  of  the  imperial- 
ists. Bogislaus  XIV.,  Duke  of  Pomerania,  a  feeble  and 
superannuated  prince,  had  been  long  tired  out  by  the 
outrages  committed  by  the  latter  within  his  territories ; 
but  too  weak  to  resist,  he  had  contented  himself  with 
murmurs.  The  appearance  of  his  deliverer,  instead  of 
animating  his  courage,  increased  his  fear  and  anxiety. 
Severely  as  his  country  had  suffered  from  the  imperial- 


136       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


ists,  the  risk  of  incurring  the  emperor's  vengeance  pre- 
vented him  from  declaring  openly  for  the  Swedes.  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus,  who  was  encamped  under  the  walls  of 
the  town,  summoned  the  city  to  receive  a  Swedish  garri- 
son. Bogislaus  appeared  in  person  in  the  camp  of  Gus- 
tavus,  to  deprecate  this  condition.  "  I  come  to  you,"  said 
Gustavus,  "  not  as  an  enemy,  but  a  friend.  I  wage  no  war 
against  Pomerania,  nor  against  the  German  empire,  but 
against  the  enemies  of  both.  In  my  hands  this  duchy 
shall  be  sacred  ;  and  it  shall  be  restored  to  you  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  campaign,  by  me,  with  more  certainty 
than  by  any  other.  Look  to  the  traces  of  the  imperial 
force  within  your  territories,  and  to  mine  in  Usedom  • 
and  decide  whether  you  will  have  the  emperor  or  me 
as  your  friend.  What  have  you  to  expect  if  the  em- 
peror should  make  himself  master  of  your  capital  ?  Will 
he  deal  with  you  more  leniently  than  I  ?  Or  is  it  your 
intention  to  stop  my  progress  ?  The  case  is  pressing : 
decide  at  once,  and  do  not  compel  me  to  have  recourse 
to  more  violent  measures." 

The  alternative  was  a  painful  one.  On  the  one  side, 
the  King  of  Sweden  was  before  his  gates  with  a  formi- 
dable army;  on  the  other,  he  saw  the  inevitable  ven- 
geance of  the  emperor,  and  the  fearful  example  of  so 
many  German  princes,  who  were  now  wandering  in 
miseiy,  the  victims  of  that  revenge.  The  more  imme- 
diate danger  decided  his  resolution.  The  gates  of  Stet- 
tin were  open  to  the  king ;  the  Swedish  troops  entered  ; 
and  the  Austrians,  who  were  advancing  by  rapid  march- 
es, anticipated.  The  capture  of  this  place  procured  for 
the  king  a  firm  footing  in  Pomerania,  the  command  of 
the  Oder,  and  a  magazine  for  his  troops.  To  prevent 
a  charge  of  treachery,  Bogislaus  was  careful  to  excuse 
this  step  to  the  emperor  on  the  plea  of  necessity ;  but 
aware  of  Ferdinand's  implacable  disposition,  he  entered 
into  a  close  alliance  with  his  new  protector.  By  this 
league  with  Pomerania  Gustavus  secured  a  powerful 
friend  in  Germany,  who  covered  his  rear,  and  main- 
tained his  communication  with  Sweden. 

As  Ferdinand  was  already  the  aggressor  in  Prussia, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  thought  himself  absolved  from  the 
usual  formalities,  and  commenced  hostilities  without  any 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  137 

declaration  of  war.  To  the  other  European  powers 
he  justified  his  conduct  in  a  manifesto,  in  which  he  de- 
tailed the  grounds  which  had  led  him  to  take  up  arms. 
Meanwhile  he  continued  his  progress  in  Pomerania, 
while  he  saw  his  army  daily  increasing.  The  troops 
which  had  fought  under  Mansfeld,  Duke  Christian  of 
Brunswick,  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  Wallenstein, 
came  in  crowds,  both  officers  and  soldiers,  to  join  his 
victorious  standard. 

At  the  imperial  court,  the  invasion  of  the  King  of 
Sweden  at  first  excited  far  less  attention  than  it  merited. 
The  pride  of  Austria,  extravagantly  elated  by  its  un- 
heard-of successes,  looked  down  with  contempt  upon  a 
prince,  who,  with  a  handful  of  men,  came  from  an  ob- 
scure corner  of  Europe,  and  who  owed  his  past  suc- 
cesses, as  they  imagined,  entirely  to  the  incapacity  of 
a  weak  opponent.  The  depreciatory  representation 
which  Wallenstein  had  artfully  given  of  the  Swedish 
power  increased  the  emperor's  security  ;  for  what  had 
he  to  fear  from  an  enemy  whom  his  general  undertook 
to  drive  with  such  ease  from  Germany  ?  Even  the  rapid 
progress  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Pomerania  could  not 
entirely  dispel  this  prejudice,  which  the  mockeries  of 
the  courtiers  continued  to  feed.  He  was  called  in  Vienna 
the  Snow  King,  whom  the  cold  of  the  north  kept  to- 
gether, but  who  would  infallibly  melt  as  he  advanced 
southward.  Even  the  electors,  assembled  at  Ratisbon, 
disregarded  his  representations ;  and,  influenced  by  an 
abject  complaisance  to  Ferdinand,  refused  him  even  the 
title  of  king.  But  while  they  mocked  him  in  Ratisbon 
and  Vienna,  in  Mecklenburg  and  Pomerania,  one  strong 
town  after  another  fell  into  his  hands. 

Notwithstanding  this  contempt,  the  emperor  thought 
it  proper  to  offer  to  adjust  his  differences  with  Sweden 
by  negotiation,  and  for  that  purpose  sent  plenipotentia- 
ries to  Denmark.  But  their  instructions  showed  how 
little  he  was  in  earnest  in  these  proposals,  for  he  still 
continued  to  refuse  to  Gustavus  the  title  of  King.  He 
hoped  by  this  means  to  throw  on  the  king  of  Sweden 
the  odium  of  being  the  aggressor,  and  thereby  to  in- 
sure the  support  of  the  states  of  the  empire.  The 
conference  at  Dantzic  proved,  as  might  be  expected 
m2 


138      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


fruitless,  and  the  animosity  of  both  parties  was  increased 
to  its  utmost  by  an  intemperate  correspondence. 

An  imperial  general,  Torquato  Conti,  who  command- 
ed in  Pomerania,  had,  in  the  mean  time,  made  a  vain 
attempt  to  wrest  Stettin  from  the  Swedes.  The  impe- 
rialists were  driven  out  from  one  place  after  another; 
Damm,  Stuttgard,  Camin,  and  Wolgast,  soon  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Gustavus.  To  revenge  himself  upon  the 
Duke  of  Pomerania,  the  imperial  general  permitted  his 
generals,  upon  his  retreat,  to  exercise  every  barbarity 
on  the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Pomerania,  who  had 
already  suffered  but  too  severely  from  his  avarice.  On 
pretense  of  cutting  off  the  resources  of  the  Swedes, 
the  whole  country  was  laid  waste  and  plundered ;  and 
often  when  the  imperialists  were  unable  any  longer  to 
maintain  a  place,  it  was  laid  in  ashes,  in  order  to  leave 
the  enemy  nothing  but  ruins.  But  these  barbarities 
only  served  to  place  in  a  more  favorable  light  the  oppo- 
site conduct  of  the  Swedes,  and  to  win  all  hearts  to 
their  humane  monarch.  The  Swedish  soldier  paid  for 
all  he  required;  no  private  property  was  injured  on  his 
march.  The  Swedes  consequently  were  received  with 
open  arms  both  in  town  and  country,  while  every  im- 
perialist that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Pomeranian 
peasantry  was  remorselessly  murdered.  Many  Pome- 
ranians entered  into  the  service  of  Sweden,  and  the  es- 
tates of  this  exhausted  country  willingly  voted  the  king 
a  contribution  of  one  hundred  thousand  florins. 

Torquato  Conti,  who,  with  all  his  severity  of  charac- 
ter, was  a  consummate  general,  endeavored  to  render 
Stettin  useless  to  the  King  of  Sweden,  as  he  could  not 
deprive  him  of  it.  He  intrenched  himself  upon  the 
Oder,  at  Gartz,  above  Stettin,  in  order,  by  commanding 
that  river,  to  cut  off  the  water  communication  of  the 
town  with  the  rest  of  Germany.  Nothing  could  induce 
him  to  attack  the  King  of  Sweden,  who  was  his  supe- 
rior in  numbers,  while  the  latter  was  equally  cautious 
not  to  storm  the  strong  intrenchments  of  the  imperial- 
ists. Torquato,  too  deficient  in  troops  and  money  to 
act  upon  the  offensive  against  the  king,  hoped  by  this 
plan  of  operations  to  give  time  for  Tilly  to  hasten  to  the 
defense  of  Pomerania,  and  then,  in  conjunction  with 


SCHILLER'S   THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR.  139 


that  general,  to  attack  the  Swedes.  Seizing  the  oppor- 
tunity of  the  temporary  absence  of  Gustavus,  he  made 
a  sudden  attempt  upon  Stettin,  but  the  Swedes  were 
not  unprepared  for  him.  A  vigorous  attack  of  the  im- 
perialists was  firmly  repulsed,  and  Torquato  was  forced 
to  retire  with  great  loss.  For  this  auspicious  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  however,  Gustavus  was,  it  must 
be  owned,  as  much  indebted  to  his  good  fortune  as  to 
his  military  talents.  The  imperial  troops  in  Pomerania 
had  been  greatly  reduced  since  Wallenstein's  dismissal ; 
moreover,  the  outrages  they  had  committed  were  now 
severely  revenged  upon  them ;  wasted  and  exhausted, 
the  country  no  longer  afforded  them  a  subsistence.  All 
discipline  was  at  an  end  ;  the  orders  of  the  officers  were 
disregarded,  while  their  numbers  daily  decreased  by 
desertion,  and  by  a  general  mortality,  which  the  piercing 
cold  of  a  strange  climate  had  produced  among  them. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  imperial  general  was 
anxious  to  allow  his  troops  the  repose  of  winter  quarters, 
but  he  had  to  do  with  an  enemy  to  whom  the  climate 
of  Germany  had  no  winter.  Gustavus  had  taken  the 
precaution  of  providing  his  soldiers  with  dresses  of  sheep- 
skin, to  enable  them  to  keep  the  field  even  in  the  most 
inclement  season.  The  imperial  plenipotentiaries,  who 
came  to  treat  with  him  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  re- 
ceived this  discouraging  answer :  "  The  Swedes  are 
soldiers  in  winter  as  well  as  in  summer,  and  not  dis- 
posed to  oppress  the  unfortunate  peasantry.  The  im- 
perialists may  act  as  they  think  proper,  but  they  need 
not  expect  to  remain  undisturbed."  Torquato  Conti 
soon  after  resigned  a  command,  in  which  neither  riches 
nor  reputation  was  to  be  gained. 

In  this  inequality  of  the  two  armies,  the  advantage 
was  necessarily  on  the  side  of  the  Swedes.  The  impe- 
rialists were  incessantly  harassed  in  their  winter  quar- 
ters ;  Greifenhagen,  an  important  place  upon  the  Oder, 
taken  by  storm,  and  the  towns  of  Gartz  and  Piritz  were 
at  last  abandoned  by  the  enemy.  In  the  whole  of  Pom- 
erania, Greifswald,  Deurmin,  and  Colberg  alone  re- 
mained in  their  hands,  and  these  the  king  made  great 
preparations  to  besiege.  The  enemy  directed  their 
retreat  toward  Brandenburg,  in  which  much  of  their 


140      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


artillery  and  baggage,  and  many  prisoners,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  pursuers. 

By  seizing  the  passes  of  Riebnitz  and  Damgarden, 
Gustavus  had  opened  a  passage  into  Mecklenburg,  whose 
inhabitants  were  invited  to  return  to  their  allegiance 
under  their  legitimate  sovereign,  and  to  expel  the  adhe- 
rents of  Wallenstein.  The  imperialists,  however,  gained 
the  important  town  of  Rostock  by  stratagem,  and  thus 
prevented  the  farther  advance  of  the  king,  who  was 
unwilling  to  divide  his  forces.  The  exiled  dukes  of 
Mecklenburg  had  ineffectually  employed  the  princes 
assembled  at  Ratisbon  to  intercede  with  the  emperor ; 
in  vain  they  had  endeavored  to  soften  Ferdinand,  by 
renouncing  the  alliance  of  the  king,  and  every  idea  of 
resistance.  But,  driven  to  despair  by  the  emperor's 
inflexibility,  they  openly  espoused  the  side  of  Sweden, 
and  raising  troops,  gave  the  command  of  them  to  Francis 
Charles,  Duke  of  Saxe-Lauenburg.  That  general  made 
himself  master  of  several  strong  places  on  the  Elbe,  but 
lost  them  afterward  to  the  imperial  general,  Pappenheim, 
who  was  dispatched  to  oppose  him.  Soon  afterward, 
besieged  by  the  latter  in  the  town  of  Ratzeburg,  he  was 
compelled  to  surrender  with  all  his  troops.  Thus  ended 
the  attempt  which  these  unfortunate  princes  made  to 
recover  their  territories ;  and  it  was  reserved  for  the 
victorious  arm  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  render  them 
that  brilliant  service. 

The  imperialists  had  thrown  themselves  into  Bran- 
denburg, which  now  became  the  theater  of  the  most  bar- 
barous atrocities.  These  outrages  were  inflicted  upon 
the  subjects  of  a  prince  who  had  never  injured  the 
emperor,  and  whom,  moreover,  he  was  at  the  very  time 
inciting  to  take  up  arms  against  the  King  of  Sweden. 
The  sight  of  the  disorders  of  their  soldiers,  which  want 
of  money  compelled  them  to  wink  at,  and  of  authority 
over  their  troops,  excited  the  disgust  even  of  the  impe- 
rial generals ;  and,  from  very  shame,  their  commander- 
in-chief,  Count  Shaumburg,  wished  to  resign. 

Without  a  sufficient  force  to  protect  his  territories, 
and  left  by  the  emperor,  in  spite  of  the  most  pressing 
remonstrances,  without  assistance,  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg at  last  issued  an  edict,  ordering  his  subjects  to 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


141 


repel  force  by  force,  and  to  put  to  death,  without  mercy, 
every  imperial  soldier  who  should  henceforth  be  detected 
in  plundering.  To  such  a  height  had  the  violence  of 
outrage  and  the  miseiy  of  the  government  risen,  that 
nothing  was  left  to  the  sovereign  but  the  desperate  ex- 
tremity of  sanctioning  private  vengeance  by  a  formal  law. 

The  Swedes  had  pursued  the  imperialists  into  Bran- 
denburg ;  but  upon  the  elector's  refusal  to  open  to  him 
the  fortress  of  Custrin  for  his  march,  obliged  the  king  to 
lay  aside  his  design  of  besieging  Frankfort  on  the  Oder. 
He  therefore  returned  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Porne- 
rania,  by  the  capture  of  Demmin  and  Colberg.  In  the 
mean  time,  field-marshal  Tilly  was  advancing  to  the  de- 
fense of  Brandenburg. 

This  general,  who  could  boast,  as  yet,  of  never  having 
suffered  a  defeat,  the  conqueror  of  Mansfeld,  of  Duke 
Christian  of  Brunswick,  of  the  Margrave  of  Baden,  and 
the  King  of  Denmark,  was  now,  in  the  Swedish  mon- 
arch, to  meet  an  opponent  worthy  of  his  fame.  De- 
scended of  a  noble  family  in  Liege,  Tilly  had  formed  his 
military  talents  in  the  wars  of  the  Netherlands,  which 
was  then  the  great  school  for  generals.  He  soon  found 
an  opportunity  of  distinguishing  himself  under  Rodolph 
II.  in  Hungary,  where  he  rapidly  rose  from  one  step  to 
another.  After  the  peace,  he  entered  into  the  service 
of  Maximilian,  of  Bavaria,  who  made  him  commander- 
in-chief,  with  absolute  powers.  Here,  by  his  excellent 
regulations,  he  was  the  founder  of  the  Bavarian  army ; 
and  to  him,  chiefly,  Maximilian  was  indebted  for  his 
superiority  in  the  field.  Upon  the  termination  of  the 
Bohemian  war,  he  was  appointed  commander  of  the 
troops  of  the  League  ;  and,  after  Wallenstein's  dismissal, 
generalissimo  of  the  imperial  armies.  Equally  stern 
toward  his  soldiers  and  implacable  toward  his  enemies, 
and  as  gloomy  and  impenetrable  as  Wallenstein,  he  was 
greatly  his  superior  in  probity  and  disinterestedness. 
A  bigoted  zeal  for  religion,  and  a  bloody  spirit  of  perse- 
cution, cooperated  with  the  natural  ferocity  of  his  char- 
acter, to  make  him  the  terror  of  the  Protestants.  A 
strange  and  terrific  aspect  bespoke  his  character :  of 
low  stature,  thin,  with  hollow  cheeks,  a  long  nose,  a 
broad  and  wrinkled  forehead,  large  whiskers,  and  a  point- 


142      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

ed  chin ;  he  was  generally  attired  in  a  Spanish  doublet 
of  green  satin,  with  slashed  sleeves,  with  a  small,  high- 
peaked  hat  upon  his  head,  surmounted  by  a  red  feather 
which  hung  down  to  his  back.  His  whole  aspect  re- 
called to  recollection  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  scourge  of 
the  Flemings,  and  his  actions  were  far  from  effacing  the 
impression.  Such  was  the  general  who  was  now  to  be 
opposed  to  the  hero  of  the  North. 

Tilly  was  far  from  undervaluing  his  antagonist.  "  The 
King  of  Sweden,"  said  he  in  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon,  44  is 
an  enemy  both  prudent  and  brave,  inured  to  war,  and 
in  the  flower  of  his  age.  His  plans  are  excellent,  his 
resources  considerable ;  his  subjects  enthusiastically 
attached  to  him.  His  army,  composed  of  Swedes,  Ger- 
mans, Livonians,  Finlanders,  Scots,  and  English,  by  its 
devoted  obedience  to  their  leader,  is  blended  into  one 
nation :  he  is  a  gamester,  in  playing  with  whom  not  to 
have  lost  is  to  have  won  a  great  deal." 

The  progress  of  the  King  of  Sweden  in  Brandenburg 
and  Pomerania  left  the  new  generalissimo  no  time  to 
lose ;  and  his  presence  was  now  urgently  called  for  by 
those  who  commanded  in  that  quarter.  With  all  expe- 
dition, he  collected  the  imperial  troops  which  were  dis- 
persed over  the  empire ;  but  it  required  time  to  obtain 
from  the  exhausted  and  impoverished  provinces  the  ne- 
cessary supplies.  At  last,  about  the  middle  of  winter, 
he  appeared  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men,  be- 
fore Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Schaumburg.  Leaving  to  this  general  the  defense  of 
Frankfort,  with  a  sufficient  garrison,  he  hastened  to 
Pomerania,  with  a  view  of  saving  Demmin,  and  reliev- 
ing Colberg,  which  was  already  hard  pressed  by  the 
Swedes.  But  even  before  he  had  left  Brandenburg, 
Demmin,  which  was  but  poorly  defended  by  the  Duke 
of  Savelli,  had  surrendered  to  the  king,  and  Colberg, 
after  a  five  months'  siege,  was  starved  into  a  capitula- 
tion. As  the  passes  in  Upper  Pomerania  were  well 
guarded,  and  the  king's  camp  near  Schwedt  defied 
attack,  Tilly  abandoned  his  offensive  plan  of  operations, 
and  retreated  toward  the  Elbe  to  besiege  Magdeburg. 

The  capture  of  Demmin  opened  to  the  king  a  free 
passage  into  Mecklenburg;  but  a  more  important  enter* 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  143 


prise  drew  his  arms  into  another  quarter.  Scarcely  had 
Tilly  commenced  his  retrograde  movement,  when,  sud- 
denly breaking  up  his  camp  at  Schwedt,  he  marched 
with  his  whole  force  against  Frankfort  on  the  Oder. 
This  town,  badly  fortified,  was  defended  by  a  garrison 
of  eight  thousand  men,  mostly  composed  of  those  fe- 
rocious bands  who  had  so  cruelly  ravaged  Pomerania 
and  Brandenburg.  It  was  now  attacked  with  such  im- 
petuosity, that  on  the  third  day  it  was  taken  by  storm. 
The  Swedes,  assured  of  victory,  rejected  every  offer  of 
capitulation,  as  they  were  resolved  to  exercise  the  dread- 
ful right  of  retaliation.  For  Tilly,  soon  after  his  arrival, 
had  surrounded  a  Swedish  detachment,  and,  irritated  by 
their  resistance,  had  cut  them  in  pieces  to  a  man.  This 
cruelty  was  not  forgotten  by  the  Swedes.  "New  Bran- 
denburg Quarter,"  they  replied  to  the  imperialists  who 
begged  their  lives,  and  slaughtered  them  without  mercy. 
Several  thousands  were  either  killed  or  taken,  and  many 
were  drowned  in  the  Oder ;  the  rest  fled  to  Silesia.  All 
their  artillery  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes.  To 
satisfy  the  rage  of  his  troops,  Gustavus  Adolphus  was 
under  the  necessity  of  giving  up  the  town  for  three  hours 
to  plunder. 

While  the  king  was  thus  advancing  from  one  conquest 
to  another,  and,  by  his  success,  encouraging  the  Protes- 
tants to  active  resistance,  the  emperor  proceeded  to  en- 
force the  Edict  of  Restitution,  and,  by  his  exorbitant 
pretensions,  to  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  states.  Com- 
pelled by  necessity,  he  continued  the  violent  course 
which  he  had  begun  with  such  arrogant  confidence ; 
the  difficulties  into  which  his  arbitrary  conduct  had 
plunged  him,  he  could  only  extricate  himself  from  by 
measures  still  more  arbitrary.  But  in  so  complicated  a 
body  as  the  German  empire,  despotism  must  always 
create  the  most  dangerous  convulsions.  With  astonish- 
ment, the  princes  beheld  the  constitution  of  the  empire 
overthrown,  and  the  state  of  nature  to  which  matters 
were  again  verging,  suggested  to  them  the  idea  of  self- 
defense,  the  only  means  of  protection  in  such  a  state  of 
things.  The  steps  openly  taken  by  the  emperor  against 
the  Lutheran  church,  had  at  last  removed  the  veil  from 
the  eyes  of  John  George,  who  had  been  so  long  the  dup* 


144       schiller's  tu  hit  v  years'  war. 

of  his  artful  policy.  Ferdinand,  too,  had  personally 
offended  him  by  the  exclusion  of  his  son  from  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Magdeburg ;  and  field-marshal  Arnheim,  his 
new  favorite  and  minister,  spared  no  pains  to  increase 
the  resentment  of  his  master.  Arnheim  had  formerly 
been  an  imperial  general  under  Wallenstein,  and  being 
still  zealously  attached  to  him,  he  was  eager  to  avenge 
his  old  benefactor  and  himself  on  the  emperor,  by  de- 
taching Saxony  from  the  Austrian  interests.  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  supported  by  the  Protestant  states,  would  be 
invincible  ;  a  consideration  which  already  filled  the  em- 
peror with  alarm.  The  example  of  Saxony  would  prob- 
ably influence  others,  and  the  emperor's  fate  seemed 
now  in  a  manner  to  depend  upon  the  elector's  decision. 
The  artful  favorite  impressed  upon  his  master  this  idea 
of  his  own  importance,  and  advised  him  to  terrify  the 
emperor,  by  threatening  an  alliance  with  Sweden,  and 
thus  to  extort  from  his  fears,  what  he  had  sought  in  vain 
from  his  gratitude.  The  favorite,  however,  was  far  from 
wishing  him  actually  to  enter  into  the  Swedish  alliance, 
but,  by  holding  aloof  from  both  parties,  to  maintain  his 
own  importance  and  independence.  Accordingly,  he 
laid  before  him  a  plan,  which  only  wanted  a  more  able 
hand  to  carry  it  into  execution,  and  recommended  him, 
by  heading  the  Protestant  party,  to  erect  a  third  power 
in  Germany,  and  thereby  maintain  the  balance  between 
Sweden  and  Austria. 

This  project  was  peculiarly  flattering  to  the  Saxon 
elector,  to  whom  the  idea  of  being  dependent  upon 
Sweden,  or  of  longer  submitting  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
emperor,  was  equally  hateful.  He  could  not,  with  in- 
difference, see  the  control  of  German  affairs  wrested 
from  him  by  a  foreign  prince ;  and  incapable  as  he  was 
of  taking  a  principal  part,  his  vanity  would  not  con- 
descend to  act  a  subordinate  one.  He  resolved,  there- 
fore, to  draw  every  possible  advantage  from  the  progress 
of  Gustavus,  but  to  pursue,  independently,  his  own 
separate  plans.  With  this  view,  he  consulted  with  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  who,  from  similar  causes,  was 
ready  to  act  against  the  emperor,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
was  jealous  of  Sweden.  In  a  Diet  at  Torgau,  having 
assured  himself  of  the  support  of  his  estates,  he  invited 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  Protestant  states  of  the  empire  to  a  genera  conven- 
tion, which  took  place  at  Leipzig,  on  the  6th  February, 
1631.  Brandenburg,  Hesse  Cassel,  with  several  princes, 
counts,  states  of  the  empire,  and  Protestant  bishops,  were 
present,  either  personally  or  by  deputy,  at  this  assembly, 
which  the  chaplain  to  the  Saxon  court,  Dr.  Hoe  of 
Hohenegg,  opened  with  a  vehement  discourse  from  the 
pulpit.  The  emperor  had,  in  vain,  endeavored  to  pre- 
vent this  self-appointed  convention,  whose  object  was 
evidently  to  provide  for  its  own  defense,  and  which  the 
presence  of  the  Swedes  in  the  empire  rendered  more 
than  usually  alarming.  Emboldened  by  the  progress  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  assembled  princes  asserted  their 
rights,  and  after  a  session  of  two  months  broke  up,  with 
adopting  a  resolution  which  placed  the  emperor  in  no 
slight  embarrassment.  Its  import  was  to  demand  of  the 
emperor,  in  a  general  address,  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Restitution,  the  withdrawal  of  his  troops  from  their 
capitals  and  fortresses,  the  suspension  of  all  existing  pro- 
ceedings, and  the  abolition  of  abuses  ;  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  raise  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  to  enable 
them  to  redress  their  own  grievances,  if  the  emperor 
should  still  refuse  satisfaction. 

A  further  incident  contributed  not  a  little  to  increase 
the  firmness  of  the  Protestant  princes.  The  King  of 
Sweden  had,  at  last,  overcome  the  scruples  which  had 
deterred  him  from  a  closer  alliance  with  France,  and,  on 
the  13th  January,  1631,  concluded  a  formal  treaty  with 
this  crown.  After  a  serious  dispute  respecting  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Roman  Catholic  princes  of  the  empire,  whom 
France  took  under  her  protection,  and  against  whom 
Gustavus  claimed  the  right  of  retaliation,  and  after  some 
less  important  differences  with  regard  to  the  title  of 
majesty,  which  the  pride  of  France  was  loth  to  concede 
to  the  King  of  Sweden,  Richelieu  yielded  the  second, 
and  Gustavus  Adolphus  the  first  point,  and  the  treaty- 
was  signed  at  Beerwald  in  Neumark.  The  contracting 
parties  mutually  covenanted  to  defend  each  other  with  a 
military  force,  to  protect  their  common  friends,  to  restore 
to  their  dominions  the  deposed  princes  of  the  empire, 
and  to  replace  every  thing,  both  on  the  frontier  and  in 
the  interior  of  Germauy,  on  the  same  footing  on  which 
io  N 


1 16 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


it  stood  before  the  commencement  of  i  the  war.  For 
this  end,  Sweden  engaged  to  maintain  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  men  in  Germany,  and  France  agreed 
to  furnish  the  Swedes  with  an  annual  subsidy  of  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  If  the  arms  of  Gustavus 
were  successful,  he  was  to  respect  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  and  the  constitution  of  the  empire  in  all  the 
conquered  places,  and  to  make  no  attempt  against 
either.  All  estates  and  princes,  whether  Protestant  or 
Roman  Catholic,  either  in  Germany  or  in  other  con- 
tries,  were  to  be  invited  to  become  parties  to  the  treaty; 
neither  France  nor  Sweden  was  to  conclude  a  separate 
peace  without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  other; 
and  the  treaty  itself  was  to  continue  in  force  for  five 
years. 

Great  as  was  tlie  struggle  to  the  King  of  Sweden  to 
receive  subsidies  from  France,  and  sacrifice  his  independ- 
ence in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  this  alliance  with  France 
decided  his  cause  in  Germany.  Protected,  as  he  now 
was,  by  the  greatest  power  in  Europe,  the  German 
states  began  to  feel  confidence  in  his  undertaking,  for 
the  issue  of  which  they  had  hitherto  good  reason  to 
tremble.  He  became  truly  formidable  to  the  emperor. 
The  Roman  Catholic  princes,  too,  who,  while  they  were 
anxious  to  humble  Austria,  had  witnessed  his  progress 
with  distrust,  were  less  alarmed  now  that  an  alliance 
with  a  Roman  Catholic  power  insured  his  respect  for 
their  religion.  And  thus,  while  Gustavus  Adolphus 
protected  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
Germany  against  the  aggression  of  Ferdinand,  France 
secured  those  liberties,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
against  Gustavus  himself,  if  the  intoxication  of  success 
should  hmry  him  beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation. 

The  King  of  Sweden  lost  no  time  in  apprising  the 
members  of  the  confederacy  of  Leipzig  of  the  treaty 
concluded  with  France,  and  inviting  them  to  a  closer 
union  with  himself.  The  application  was  seconded  by 
France,  who  spared  no  pains  to  win  over  the  Elector  of 
Saxony.  Gustavus  was  willing  to  be  content  with  secret 
support,  if  the  princes  should  deem  it  too  bold  a  step,  as 
yet,  to  declare  openly  in  his  favor.  Several  princes  gave 
him  hopes  of  his  proposals  being  accepted  on  the  first 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  147 


favorable  opportunity ;  but  the  Saxon  elector,  full  o* 
jealousy  and  distrust  toward  the  King  of  Sweden,  and 
true  to  the  selfish  policy  he  had  pursued,  could  not  be 
prevailed  upon  to  give  a  decisive  answer.  . 

The  resolution  of  the  confederacy  of  Leipzig,  and  the 
alliance  betwixt  France  and  Sweden,  were  news  equally 
disagreeable  to  the  emperor.  Against  them  he  em- 
ployed the  thunder  of  imperial  ordinances,  and  the  want 
of  an  army  saved  France  from  the  full  weight  of  his  dis- 
pleasure. Remonstrances  were  addressed  to  all  the 
members  of  the  confederacy,  strongly  prohibiting  them 
from  enlisting  troops.  They  retorted  with  explanations 
equally  vehement,  justified  their  conduct  upon  the  princi- 
ples of  natural  right,  and  continued  their  preparations. 

Meantime,  the  imperial  generals,  deficient  both  in 
troops  and  money,  found  themselves  reduced  to  the  dis- 
agreeable alternative  of  losing  sight  either  of  the  King 
of  Sweden,  or  of  the  estates  of  the  empire,  since  with 
a  divided  force  they  were  not  a  match  for  either.  The 
movements  of  the  Protestants  called  their  attention  to 
the  interior  of  the  empire,  while  the  progress  of  the 
king  in  Brandenburg,  by  threatening  the  hereditary 
possessions  of  Austria,  required  them  to  turn  their  arms 
to  that  quarter.  After  the  conquest  of  Frankfort,  the 
king  had  advanced  upon  Landsberg  on  the  Warta,  and 
Tilly,  after  a  fruitless  attempt  to  relieve  it,  had  again 
returned  to  Magdeburg,  to  prosecute  with  vigor  the 
siege  of  that  town. 

The  rich  archbishopric,  of  which  Magdeburg  was  the 
capital,  had  long  been  in  the  possession  of  princes  of  the 
House  of  Brandenburg,  who  introduced  the  Protestant 
religion  into  the  province.  Christian  William,  the  last 
administrator,  had,  by  his  alliance  with  Denmark,  in- 
curred the  ban  of  the  empire,  on  which  account  the 
chapter,  to  avoid  the  emperor's  displeasure,  had  formally 
deposed  him.  In  his  place  they  had  elected  Prince 
John  Augustus,  the  second  son  of  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony, whom  the  emperor  rejected,  in  order  to  confer  the 
archbishopric  on  his  son  Leopold.  The  Elector  01 
Saxony  complained  ineffectually  to  the  imperial  court; 
but  Christian  William  of  Brandenburg  took  more  active 
measures.    Relying  on  the  attachment  of  the  magis- 


148      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


tracy  and  inhabitants  of  Brandenburg,  and  excited  by 
chimerical  hopes,  he  thought  himself  able  to  surmount 
all  the  obstacles  which  the  vote  of  the  chapter,  the  com- 
petition of  two  powerful  rivals,  and  the  Edict  of  Restitu- 
tion opposed  to  his  restoration.  He  went  to  Sweden, 
and,  by  the  promise  of  a  diversion  in  Germany,  sough*: 
to  obtain  assistance  from  Gustavus.  He  was  dismissed 
by  that  monarch  not  without  hopes  of  effectual  protec- 
tion, but  with  the  advice  to  act  with  caution. 

Scarcely  had  Christian  William  been  informed  of  the 
landing  of  his  protector  in  Pomerania,  than  he  entered 
Magdeburg  in  disguise.  Appearing  suddenly  in  the 
town  council,  he  reminded  the  magistrates  of  the  rav- 
ages which  both  town  and  country  had  suffered  from 
the  imperial  troops,  of  the  pernicious  designs  of  Ferdi- 
nand, and  the  danger  of  the  Protestant  church.  He 
then  informed  them  that  the  moment  of  deliverance 
was  at  hand,  and  that  Gustavus  Adolphus  offered  them 
his  alliance  and  assistance.  Magdeburg,  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  towns  in  Germany,  enjoyed  under 
the  government  of  its  magistrates  a  republican  freedom, 
which  inspired  its  citizens  with  a  brave  heroism.  Of 
this  they  had  already  given  proofs,  in  the  bold  defence 
of  their  rights  against  Wallenstein,  who,  tempted  by 
their  wealth,  made  on  them  the  most  extravagant  de- 
mands. Their  territory  had  been  given  up  to  the  fury 
of  his  troops,  though  Magdeburg  itself  had  escaped  his 
vengeance.  It  was  not  difficult,  therefore,  for  the  ad- 
ministrator to  gain  the  concurrence  of  men  in  whose 
minds  the  remembrance  of  these  outrages  was  still  re- 
cent. An  alliance  was  formed  between  the  city  and  the 
King  of  Sweden,  by  which  Magdeburg  granted  to  the 
king  a  free  passage  through  its  gates  and  territories, 
with  liberty  of  enlisting  soldiers  within  its  boundaries, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  obtaining  promises  of  effectual 
protection  for  its  religion  and  its  privileges. 

The  administrator  immediately  collected  troops  and 
commenced  hostilities,  before  Gustavus  Adolphus  was 
near  enough  to  cooperate  with  him.  He  defeated  some 
imperial  detachments  in  the  neighborhood,  made  a  few 
conquests,  and  even  surprised  Halle.  But  the  approach 
of  an  imperial  army  obliged  him  to  retreat  hastily,  and 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  149 


not  without  loss,  to  Magdeburg.  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
though  displeased  with  his  premature  measures,  sent 
Dietrich  Falkeoberg,  an  experienced  officer,  to  direct 
the  administrator's  military  operations,  and  to  assist  him 
with  his  counsel.  Falkenberg  was  named  by  the  ma- 
gistrates governor  of  the  town  during  the  war.  The 
prince's  army  was  daily  augmented  by  recruits  from  the 
neighboring  towns  ;  and  he  was  able,  for  some  months,  to 
maintain  a  petty  warfare  with  success. 

At  length,  Count  Pappenheim,  having  brought  his 
expedition  against  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Lauenburg  to  a 
close,  approached  the  town.  Driving  the  troops  of  the 
administrator  from  their  intrenchments,  he  cut  off  his 
communication  with  Saxony,  and  closely  invested  the 
place.  He  was  soon  followed  by  Tilly,  who  haughtily 
summoned  the  elector  forthwith  to  comply  with  the 
Edict  of  Restitution,  to  submit  to  the  emperor's  orders, 
and  surrender  Magdeburg.  The  prince's  answer  was 
spirited  and  resolute,  and  obliged  Tilly  at  once  to  have 
recourse  to  arms. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  siege  was  prolonged  by  the 
progress  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  which  called  the  Aus- 
trian generals  from  before  the  place  ;  and  the  jealousy 
of  the  officers,  who  conducted  the  operations  in  their  ab- 
sence, delayed,  for  some  months,  the  fall  of  Magdeburg. 
On  the  30th  March,  1631,  Tilly  returned,  to  push  the 
siege  with  vigor. 

The  outworks  were  soon  carried,  and  Falkenberg, 
after  withdrawing  the  garrisons  from  the  points  which 
he  could  no  longer  hold,  destroyed  the  bridge  over  the 
Elbe.  As  his  troops  were  barely  sufficient  to  defend 
the  extensive  fortifications,  the  suburbs  of  Sudenburg 
and  Neustadt  were  abandoned  to  the  enemy,  who 
immediately  laid  them  in  ashes.  Pappenheiin,  now 
separated  from  Tilly,  crossed  the.  Elbe  at  Schonenbeck, 
and  attacked  the  town  from  the  opposite  side. 

The  garrison,  reduced  by  the  defense  of  the  out- 
works, scarcely  exceeded  two  thousand  infantiy  and  a 
few  hundred  horse;  a  small  number  for  so  extensive 
and  irregular  a  fortress.  To  supply  this  deficiency,  the 
citizens  were  armed — a  desperate  expedient,  which  pro- 
duced more  evils  than  those  it  prevented.  The  citizens, 
N  2 


150       schillkr'.s  thirty  years'  war. 


at  best  but  indifferent  soldiers,  by  their  disunion  threw 
the  town  into  confusion.  The  poor  complained  that 
they  were  exposed  to  every  hardship  and  danger,  while 
the  rich,  by  hiring  substitutes,  remained  at  home  in 
safety.  These  murmurs  broke  out  at  last  in  an  open 
mutiny  ;  indifference  succeeded  to  zeal :  weariness  and 
negligence  took  the  place  of  vigilance  and  foresight. 
Dissension,  combined  with  growing  scarcity,  gradually 
produced  a  feeling  of  despondence,  many  began  to 
tremble  at  the  desperate  nature  of  their  undertaking, 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  power  to  which  they  were 
opposed.  But  religious  zeal,  an  ardent  love  of  liberty, 
an  invincible  hatred  to  the  Austrian  yoke,  and  the  ex- 
pectation of  speedy  relief,  banished,  as  yet,  the  idea  of 
a  surrender ;  and,  divided  as  they  were  in  every  thing 
else,  they  were  united  in  the  resolve  to  defend  them- 
selves to  the  last  extremity. 

Their  hopes  of  succor  were  apparently  well  founded. 
They  knew  that  the  confederacy  of  Leipzig  was  arming : 
they  were  aware  of  the  near  approach  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  Both  were  alike  interested  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  Magdeburg ;  and  a  few  days  might  bring  the 
King  of  Sweden  before  its  walls.  All  this  was  also 
known  to  Tilly,  who,  therefore,  was  anxious  to  make 
himself  speedily  master  of  the  place.  With  this  view, 
he  had  dispatched  a  trumpeter  with  letters  to  the  ad- 
ministrator, the  commandant,  and  the  magistrates,  offer- 
ing terms  of  capitulation  ;  but  he  received  for  answer, 
that  they  would  rather  die  than  surrender.  A  spirited 
sally  of  the  citizens  also  convinced  him  that  their  cour- 
age was  as  earnest  as  their  words,  while  the  king's 
arrival  at  Potsdam,  with  the  incursions  of  the  Swedes 
as  far  as  Zerbst,  filled  him  with  uneasiness,  but  raised 
the  hopes  of  the  garrison.  A  second  trumpeter  was 
now  dispatched  :  but  the  more  moderate  tone  of  his 
demands  increased  the  confidence  of  the  besieged,  and, 
unfortunately,  their  negligence  also. 

The  besiegers  had  now  pushed  their  approaches  as 
far  as  the  ditch,  and  vigorously  cannonaded  the  fortifi- 
cations from  the  abandoned  batteries.  One  tower  was 
entirely  overthrown,  but  this  did  not  facilitate  an  assault, 
as  it  fell  side  wise  upon  the  wall,  and  not  into  the  ditch. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  151 


Notwithstanding  the  continual  bombardment,  the  walls 
had  not  suffered  much  ;  and  the  fireballs,  which  were 
intended  to  set  the  town  in  flames,  were  prevented  of 
their  effect  by  the  excellent  precautions  adopted  against 
them.  But  the  ammunition  of  the  besieged  was  nearly- 
expended,  and  the  cannon  of  the  town  gradually  ceased 
to  answer  the  fire  of  the  imperialists.  Before  a  new 
supply  could  be  obtained,  Magdeburg  would  be  either 
relieved,  or  taken.  The  hopes  of  the  besieged  were  on 
the  stretch,  and  all  eyes  anxiously  directed  toward  the 
quarter  in  which  the  Swedish  banners  were  expected 
to  appear.  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  near  enough  to 
reach  Magdeburg  within  three  days  ;  security  grew  with 
hope,  which  all  things  contributed  to  augment.  On  the 
9th  of  May,  the  fire  of  the  imperialists  was  suddenly 
stopped,  and  the  cannon  withdrawn  from  several  of  the 
batteries.  A  death-like  stillness  reigned  in  the  imperial 
camp.  The  besieged  were  convinced  that  deliverance 
was  at  hand.  Both  citizens  and  soldiers  left  their  posts 
upon  the  ramparts  early  in  the  morning,  to  indulge 
themselves,  after  their  long  toils,  with  the  refreshment 
of  sleep,  but  it  was  indeed  a  dear  sleep,  and  had  a  fright- 
ful awakening. 

Tilly  had  abandoned  the  hope  of  taking  the  town,  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  Swedes,  by  the  means  which  he 
had  hitherto  adopted ;  he  therefore  determined  to  raise 
the  siege,  but  first  to  hazard  a  general  assault.  This 
plan,  however,  was  attended  with  great  difficulties,  as 
no  breach  had  been  effected,  and  the  works  were  scarce- 
ly injured.  But  the  council  of  war  assembled  on  this 
occasion,  declared  for  an  assault,  citing  the  example  of 
Maestricht,  which  had  been  taken  early  in  the  morning, 
while  the  citizens  and  soldiers  were  reposing  them- 
selves. The  attack  was  to  be  made  simultaneously  on  four 
points ;  the  night  betwixt  the  9th  and  10th  of  May  was 
employed  in  the  necessary  preparations.  Every  thing 
was  ready  and  awaiting  the  signal,  which  was  to  be  given 
by  cannon  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  signal, 
however,  was  not  given  for  two  hours  later,  during  which 
Tilly,  who  was  still  doubtful  of  success,  again  consulted 
the  council  of  war.  Pappenheim  was  ordered  to  attack 
the  works  of  the  new  town,  where  the  attempt  was 


152         BCHILLEft'ä   THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


favored  by  a  sloping  rampart,  and  a  diy  ditch  of  moderate 
depth.  The  citizens  and  soldiers  had  mostly  left  the 
walls,  and  the  few  who  remained  were  overcome  with 
sleep.  This  general,  therefore,  found  little  difficulty  in 
mounting  the  wall  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 

Falkenberg,  roused  by  the  report  of  musketry,  hast- 
ened from  the  town-house,  where  he  was  employed  in 
dispatching  Tilly's  second  trumpeter,  and  hurried  with 
all  the  force  he  could  hastily  assemble  toward  the  gate 
of  the  new  town,  which  was  already  in  the  possession 
of  the  enemy.  Beaten  back,  this  intrepid  general  flew 
to  another  quarter,  where  a  second  party  of  the  enemy 
were  preparing  to  scale  the  walls.  After  an  ineffectual 
resistance,  he  fell  in  the  commencement  of  the  action. 
The  roaring  of  musketry,  the  pealing  of  the  alarm-bells, 
and  the  growing  tumult,  apprised  the  awakening  citizens 
of  their  danger.  Hastily  arming  themselves,  they  rushed 
in  blind  confusion  against  the  enemy.  Still  some  hope 
of  repulsing  the  besiegers  remained ;  but  the  governor 
being  killed,  their  efforts  were  without  plan  and  cooper- 
ation, and  qt  last  their  ammunition  began  to  fail  them. 
In  the  mean  while,  two  other  gates,  hitherto  unattacked, 
were  stripped  of  their  defenders,  to  meet  the  urgent 
danger  within  the  town.  The  enemy  quickly  availed 
themselves  of  this  confusion  to  attack  these  posts.  The 
resistance  was  nevertheless  spirited  and  obstinate,  until 
four  imperial  regiments,  at  length,  masters  of  the  ram- 
parts, fell  upon  the  garrison  in  the  rear,  and  completed 
their  rout.  Amid  the  general  tumult,  a  brave  captain, 
named  Schmidt,  who  still  headed  a  few  of  the  more 
resolute  against  the  enemy,  succeeded  in  driving  them 
to  the  gates ;  here  he  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  with 
him  expired  the  hopes  of  Magdeburg.  Before  noon,  all 
the  works  were  carried,  and  the  town  was  in  the  enemy's 
hands. 

Two  gates  were  now  opened  by  the  storming  party 
for  the  main  body,  and  Tilly  marched  in  with  part  of  his 
infantry.  Immediately  occupying  the  principal  streets, 
he  drove  the  citizens  with  pointed  cannon  into  their 
dwellings,  there  to  await  their  destiny.  They  were 
not  long  held  in  suspense  ;  a  word  from  Tilly  decided 
the  fate  of  Magdeburg. 


Schiller's  rHiRTf  years'  war.  153 


Even  a  more  humane  general  would  in  vain  have 
recommended  mercy  to  such  soldiers  ;  but  Tilly  never 
made  the  attempt.  Left  by  their  general's  silence 
masters  of  the  lives  of  all  the  citizens,  the  soldiery  broke 
into  the  houses  to  satiate  their  most  brutal  appetites. 
The  prayers  of  innocence  excited  some  compassion  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Germans,  but  none  in  the  rude  breasts 
of  Pappenheim's  Walloons.  Scarcely  had  the  savage 
cruelty  commenced,  when  the  other  gates  were  thrown 
open,  and  the  cavalry,  with  the  fearful  hordes  of  the 
Croats,  poured  in  upon  the  devoted  inhabitants. 

Here  commenced  a  scene  of  horrors  for  which  history 
has  no  language — poetry  no  pencil.  Neither  innocent 
childhood,  nor  helpless  old  age  ;  neither  youth,  sex,  rank, 
nor  beauty,  could  disarm  the  fury  of  the  conquerors. 
Wives  were  abused  in  the  arms  of  their  husbands, 
daughters  at  the  feet  of  their  parents  ;  and  the  defense- 
less sex  exposed  to  the  double  sacrifice  of  virtue  and 
life.  No  situation,  however  obscure,  or  however  sacred, 
escaped  the  rapacity  of  the  enemy.  In  a  single  church 
fifty-three  women  were  found  beheaded.  The  Croats 
amused  themselves  with  throwing  children  into  the 
flames  :  Pappenheim's  Walloons  with  stabbing  infants 
at  the  mother's  breast.  Some  officers  of  the  League, 
horror-struck  at  this  dreadful  scene,  ventured  to  remind 
Tilly  that  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  stop  the  carnage. 
"  Return  in  an  hour,"  was  his  answer ;  "  I  will  see 
what  I  can  do ;  the  soldier  must  have  some  reward  for 
his  danger  and  toils."  These  horrors  lasted  with 
unabated  fury,  till  at  last  the  smoke  and  flames  proved  a 
check  to  the  plunderers.  To  augment  the  confusion 
and  to  divert  the  resistance  of  the  inhabitants,  the  impe- 
rialists had,  in  the  commencement  of  the  assault,  fired 
the  town  in  several  places.  The  wind,  rising  rapidly, 
spread  the  flames,  till  the  blaze  became  universal. 
Fearful,  indeed,  was  the  tumult  amid  clouds  of  smoke, 
heaps  of  dead  bodies,  the  clash  of  swords,  the  crash  of 
falling  ruins,  and  streams  of  blood.  The  atmosphere 
glowed  ;  and  the  intolerable  heat  forced  at  last  even  the 
murderers  to  take  refuge  in  their  camp.  In  less  than 
twelve  hours,  this  strong,  populous,  and  flourishing  city, 
one  of  the  finest  in  Germany,  was  reduced  to  ashes. 


154 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


with  the  exception  of  two  churches  and  a  few  houses. 
The  administrator,  Christian  William,  after  receiving 
several  wounds,  was  taken  prisoner,  with  three  of  the 
burgomasters  ;  most  of  the  officers  and  magistrates  had 
already  met  an  enviable  death.  The  avarice  of  the 
officers  had  saved  four  hundred  of  the  richest  citizens, 
in  the  hope  of  extorting  from  them  an  exorbitant  ransom. 
But  this  humanity  was  confined  to  the  officers  of  the 
League,  whom  the  ruthless  barbarity  of  the  imperialists 
caused  to  be  regarded  as  guardian  angels. 

Scarcely  had  the  fury  of  the  flames  abated,  when  the 
imperialists  returned  to  renew  the  pillage  amid  the  ruins 
and  ashes  of  the  town.  Many  were  suffocated  by  the 
smoke  ;  many  found  rich  booty  in  the  cellars,  where 
the  citizens  had  concealed  their  more  valuable  effects. 
On  the  13th  of  May,  Tilly  himself  appeared  in  the  town, 
after  the  streets  had  been  cleared  of  ashes  and  dead 
bodies.  Horrible  and  revolting  to  humanity  was  the 
scene  that  presented  itself.  The  living  crawling  from 
under  the  dead,  children  wandering  about  with  heart- 
rending cries,  calling  for  their  parents ;  and  infants  still 
sucking  the  breasts  of  their  lifeless  mothers.  More  than 
six  thousand  bodies  were  thrown  into  the  Elbe  to  clear 
the  streets;  a  much  greater  number  had  been  consumed 
by  the  flames.  The  whole  number  of  the  slain  was 
reckoned  at  not  less  than  thirty  thousand. 

The  entrance  of  the  general,  which  took  place  on  the 
14th,  put  a  stop  to  the  plunder,  and  saved  the  few  who 
had  hitherto  contrived  to  escape.  About  a  thousand 
people  were  taken  out  of  the  cathedral,  where  they  had 
remained  three  days  and  two  nights,  without  food,  and 
in  momentary  fear  of  death.  Tilly  promised  them 
quarter,  and  commanded  bread  to  be  distributed  among 
them.  The  next  day,  a  solemn  mass  was  performed  in 
the  cathedral,  and  Te  Deum  sung  amid  the  discharge  of 
artillery.  The  imperial  general  rode  through  the  streets, 
that  he  might  be  able,  as  an  eye-witness,  to  inform  his 
master  that  no  such  conquest  had  been  made  since  the 
destruction  of  Troy  and  Jerusalem.  Nor  was  this  an 
exaggeration,  whether  we  consider  the  greatness,  impor 
tance,  and  prosperity  of  the  city  razed,  or  the  fury  of  its 
ravagers. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.. 


155 


In  Germany,  the  tidings  of  the  dreadful  fate  of  Mag- 
deburg caused  triumphant  joy  to  the  Roman  Catholics, 
while  it  spread  terror  and  consternation  among  the 
Protestants.  Loudly  and  generally  they  complained 
against  the  King  of  Sweden,  who,  with  a  strong  force, 
and  in  the  very  neighborhood,  had  left  an  allied  city  to 
its  fate.  Even  the  most  reasonable  deemed  his  inaction 
inexplicable  ;  and  lest  he  should  lose,  irretrievably,  the 
good-will  of  the  people  for  whose  deliverance  he  had  en- 
gaged in  this  war,  Gustavus  was  under  the  necessity  of 
publishing  to  the  world  a  justification  of  his  own  conduct. 

He  had  attacked,  and,  on  the  16th  April,  carried  Lands- 
berg,  when  he  was  apprised  of  the  danger  of  Magdeburg. 
He  resolved  immediately  to  march  to  the  relief  of  that 
town  ;  and  he  moved,  with  all  his  cavalry,  and  ten  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  toward  the  Spree.  But  the  position 
which  he  held  in  Germany,  made  it  necessary  that  he 
should  not  move  forward  without  securing  his  rear.  In 
traversing  a  country  where  he  was  surrounded  by  sus- 
picious friends  and  dangerous  enemies,  and  where  a 
singla  premature  movement  might  cut  off  his  communi- 
cation with  his  own  kingdom,  the  utmost  vigilance  and 
caution  were  necessary.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
had  already  opened  the  fortress  of  Custrin  to  the  flying 
imperialists,  and  closed  the  gates  against  their  pursuers. 
If  now  Gustavus  should  fail  in  his  attack  upon  Tilly,  the 
elector  might  again  open  his  fortresses  to  the  imperial- 
ists, and  the  king,  with  an  enemy  both  in  front  and  rear, 
would  be  irrecoverably  lost.  In  order  to  prevent  this 
contingence,  he  demanded  that  the  elector  should  allow 
him  to  hold  the  fortresses  of  Custrin  and  Spandau,  till 
the  siege  of  Magdeburg  should  be  raised. 

Nothing  could  be  more  reasonable  than  this  demand. 
The  services  which  Gustavus  had  lately  rendered  the 
elector,  by  expelling  the  imperialists  from  Brandenburg, 
claimed  his  gratitude,  while  the  past  conduct  of  the 
Swedes  in  Germany  entitled  them  to  confidence.  But 
by  the  surrender  of  his  fortresses,  the  elector  would,  in 
some  measure,  make  the  King  of  Sweden  master  of  his 
country ;  beside  that,  by  such  a  step,  he  must  at  once 
break  with  the  emperor,  and  expose  his  states  to  his 
future  vengeance.    The  elector's  struggle  with  himself 


15(3       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


was  long  and  violent,  but  pusillanimity  and  self-interest 
for  a  while  prevailed-  Unmoved  by  the  fate  of  Magde- 
burg, cold  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
Germany,  he  saw  nothing  but  his  own  danger  ;  and  this 
anxiety  was  greatly  stimulated  by  his  minister,  Von 
Sehwartzenburgh,  who  was  secretly  in  the  pay  of  Aus- 
tria. In  the  mean  time  the  Swedish  troops  approached 
Berlin,  and  the  king  took  up  his  residence  with  the 
elector.  When  he  witnessed  the  timorous  hesitation  of 
that  prince,  he  could  not  restrain  his  indignation  :  "  My 
road  is  to  Magdeburg,"  said  he  ;  "  not  for  my  own  advan- 
tage, but  for  that  of  the  Protestant  religion.  If  no  one  will 
stand  by  me,  I  shall  immediately  retreat,  conclude  a  peace 
with  the  emperor,  and  return  to  Stockholm.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  Ferdinand  will  readily  grant  me  whatever 
conditions  I  may  require.  But  if  Magdeburg  is  once  lost, 
and  the  emperor  relieved  from  all  fear  of  me,  then  it  is 
for  you  to  look  to  yourselves  and  the  consequences." 
This  timely  threat,  and  perhaps,  too,  the  aspect  of  the 
Swedish  army,  which  was  strong  enough  to  obtain  by 
force  wThat  was  refused  to  entreaty,  brought  at  last  the 
elector  to  his  senses,  and  Spandau  was  delivered  into 
the  hands  of  the  Swedes. 

The  king  had  now  two  routes  to  Magdeburg:  one 
westward  led  through  an  exhausted  country,  and  filled 
with  the  enemy's  troops,  who  might  dispute  with  him 
the  passage  of  the  Elbe  ;  the  other  more  to  the  south- 
ward, by  Dessau  and  Wittenberg,  where  bridges  were 
to  be  found  for  crossing  the  Elbe,  and  where  supplies 
could  easily  be  drawn  from  Saxony.  But  he  could  not 
avail  himself  of  the  latter  without  the  consent  of  the 
Elector,  whom  Gustavus  had  good  reason  to  distrust. 
Before  setting  out  on  his  march,  therefore,  he  demanded 
from  that  prince  a  free  passage  and  liberty  for  purchas- 
ing provisions  for  his  troops.  His  application  was  refused, 
and  no  remonstrances  could  prevail  on  the  elector  to 
abandon  his  system  of  neutrality.  While  the  point  was 
still  in  dispute,  the  news  of  the  dreadful  fate  of  Magde- 
burg arrived. 

Tilly  announced  its  fall  to  the  Protestant  princes  in  the 
tone  of  a  conqueror,  and  lost  no  time  in  making  the  most 
of  the  general  consternation.    The  influence  of  the  em- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  157 


peror,  which  had  sensibly  declined  during  the  rapid  pro- 
gress of  Gustavus,  after  this  decisive  blow  rose  higher 
than  ever;  and  the  change  was  speedily  visible  in  the 
imperious  tone  he  adopted  toward  the  Protestant  states. 
The  decrees  of  the  Confederation  of  Leipzig  were  an- 
nulled by  a  proclamation,  the  Convention  itself  sup- 
pressed by  an  imperial  decree,  and  all  the  refractory 
states  threatened  with  the  fate  of  Magdeburg.  As  the 
executor  of  this  imperial  mandate,  Tilly  immediately 
ordered  troops  to  march  against  the  Bishop  of  Bremen, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  confederacy,  and  had  himself 
enlisted  soldiers.  The  terrified  bishop  immediately  gave 
up  his  forces  to  Tilly,  and  signed  the  revocation  of  the 
acts  of  the  Confederation.  An  imperial  army,  which 
had  lately  returned  from  Italy,  under  the  command  of 
Count  Furstenberg,  acted  in  the  same  manner  toward 
the  Administrator  of  Wirtemburg.  The  duke  was  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  and  all  the 
decrees  of  the  emperor,  and  even  to  pay  a  monthly  sub- 
sidy of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  imperial  troops.  Similar  burdens  were 
inflicted  upon  Ulm  and  Nuremberg,  and  the  entire  cir- 
cles of  Franconia  and  Suabia.  The  hand  of  the  em- 
peror was  stretched  in  terror  over  all  Germany.  The 
sudden  preponderance,  more  in  appearance,  perhaps, 
than  in  reality,  which  he  had  obtained  by  this  blow, 
carried  him  beyond  the  bounds  even  of  the  moderation 
which  he  had  hitherto  observed,  and  misled  him  into 
hasty  and  violent  measures,  which  at  last  turned  the 
wavering  resolution  of  the  German  princes  in  favor  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Injurious  as  the  immediate  conse- 
quences of  the  fall  of  Magdeburg  were  to  the  Protestant 
cause,  its  remoter  effects  were  most  advantageous.  The 
past  surprise  made  way  for  active  resentment;  despair 
inspired  courage,  and  the  German  freedom  rose,  like  a 
phoenix,  from  the  ashes  of  Magdeburg. 

Among  the  princes  of  the  Leipzig  Confederation,  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  were 
the  most  powerful ;  and,  until  they  were  disarmed,  the 
universal  authority  of  the  emperor  was  unconfirmed 
Against  the  landgrave,  therefore,  Tilly  first  directed  his 
attack,  and  marched  straight  from  Magdeburg  into 


153 


SCHILLER*^   THIRTY  YEARS*  WAR. 


Thuringia.  During  tins  march,  the  territories  of  Saxe- 
Ernest  and  Schwartzbuvg  were  laid  waste,  and  Franken- 
hausen plundered  before  the  very  eyes  of  Tilly,  and 
laid  in  ashes  with  impunity.  The  unfortunate  peasant 
paid  dear  for  his  master's  attachment  to  the  interests  of 
Sweden.  Erfurt,  the  key  of  Saxony  and  Franconia, 
was  threatened  with  a  siege,  but  redeemed  itself  by  a 
voluntary  contribution  of  money  and  provisions.  From 
thence,  Tilly  dispatched  his  emissaries  to  the  landgrave, 
demanding  of  him  the  immediate  disbanding  of  his  army, 
a  renunciation  of  the  league  of  Leipzig,  the  reception 
of  imperial  garrisons  into  his  territories  and  fortresses, 
with  the  necessary  contributions,  and  the  declaration  of 
friendship  or  hostility.  Such  was  the  treatment  which 
a  prince  of  the  empire  was  compelled  to  submit  to  from 
a  servant  of  the  emperor.  But  these  extravagant  de- 
mands acquired  a  formidable  weight  from  the  power 
which  supported  them  ;  and  the  dreadful  fate  of  Magde- 
burg, still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  landgrave,  tended 
still  farther  to  enforce  them.  Admirable,  therefore, 
was  the  intrepidity  of  the  landgrave's  answer  :  "  To 
admit  foreign  troops  into  his  capital  and  fortresses,  the 
landgrave  is  not  disposed ;  his  troops  he  requires  for  his 
own  purposes  ;  as  for  an  attack,  he  can  defend  himself. 
If  General  Tilly  wants  money  or  provisions,  let  him  gc 
to  Munich,  where  there  is  plenty  of  both."  The  irrup- 
tion of  two  bodies  of  imperial  troops  into  Hesse  Cassel 
was  the  immediate  result  of  this  spirited  reply,  but  the 
landgrave  gave  them  so  warm  a  reception  that  they 
could  effect  nothing;  and  just  as  Tilly  was  preparing  to 
follow  with  his  whole  army,  to  punish  the  unfortunate 
country  for  the  firmness  of  its  sovereign,  the  movements 
of  the  King  of  Sweden  recalled  him  to  another  quarter. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  learned  the  fall  of  Magdeburg 
with  deep  regret ;  and  the  demand  now  made  by  the 
elector,  George  William,  in  terms  of  their  agreement, 
for  the  restoration  of  Spandau,  greatly  increased  this 
feeling.  The  loss  of  Magdeburg  had  rather  augmented 
than  lessened  the  reasons  which  made  the  possession  of 
this  fortress  so  desirable  ;  and  the  nearer  became  the 
necessity  of  a  decisive  battle  between  himself  and  Tilly, 
the  more  unwilling  he  felt  to  abandon  the  only  place 


SCHILLER^  THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


159 


which,  in  the  event  of  a  defeat,  could  insure  him  a 
refuge.  After  a  vain  endeavor,  by  entreaties  and  repre- 
sentations, to  bring  over  the  elector  to  his  views,  whose 
coldness  and  lukewarmness  daily  increased,  he  gave 
orders  to  his  general  to  evacuate  Spandau,  but  at  the 
same  time  declared  to  the  elector  that  he  would  hence- 
forth regard  him  as  an  enemy. 

To  give  weight  to  this  declaration,  he  appeared  with 
his  whole  force  before  Berlin.  "  I  will  not  be  worse 
treated  than  the  imperial  generals,"  was  his  reply  to  the 
ambassadors  whom  the  bewildered  elector  dispatched 
to  his  camp.  "  Your  master  has  received  them  into  his 
territories,  furnished  them  with  all  necessary  supplies, 
ceded  to  them  every  place  which  they  required,  and 
yet,  by  all  these  concessions,  he  could  not  prevail  upon 
them  to  treat  his  subjects  with  common  humanity.  All 
that  I  require  of  him  is  security,  a  moderate  sum  of 
money,  and  provisions  for  my  troops;  in  return,  I  promise 
to  protect  his  country,  and  to  keep  the  war  at  a  distance 
from  him.  On  these  points,  however,  I  must  insist ; 
and  my  brother,  the  elector,  must  instantly  determine 
to  have  me  as  a  friend,  or  to  see  his  capital  plundered." 
This  decisive  tone  produced  a  due  impression  ;  and  the 
cannon  pointed  against  the  town  put  an  end  to  the  doubts 
of  George  William.  In  a  few  days,  a  treaty  was  signed, 
by  which  the  elector  engaged  to  furnish  a  monthly  sub- 
sidy of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  to  leave  Spandau  in  the 
king's  hands,  and  to  open  Custrin  at  all  times  to  the 
Swedish  troops.  This  now  open  alliance  of  the  elector 
of  Brandenburg  with  the  Swedes  excited  no  less  dis- 
pleasure at  Vienna,  than  did  formerly  the  similar  pro- 
cedure of  the  Duke  of  Pomerania  ;  but  the  changed 
fortune  which  now  attended  his  arms,  obliged  the  em- 
peror to  confine  his  resentment  to  words. 

The  king's  satisfaction,  on  this  favorable  event,  was 
increased  by  the  agreeable  intelligence  that  Griefswald, 
the  only  fortress  which  the  imperialists  still  held  in 
Pomerania,  had  surrendered,  and  that  the  whole  country 
was  now  free  of  the  enemy.  He  appeared  once  more 
in  this  duchy,  and  was  gratified  at  the  sight  of  the 
general  joy  which  he  had  caused  to  the  people.  A 
year  had  elapsed  since  Gustavus  first  entered  Germany, 


160       Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


and  this  event  was  now  celebrated  by  all  Pomerania  as 
a  national  festival.  Shortly  before,  the  Czar  of  Moscow 
had  sent  ambassadors  to  congratulate  him,  to  renew  his 
alliance,  and  even  to  öfter  him  troops.  He  had  great 
reason  to  rejoice  at  the  friendly  disposition  of  Russia,  as 
it  was  indispensable  to  his  interests  that  Sweden  itself 
should  remain  undisturbed  by  any  dangerous  neighbor 
during  the  war  in  which  he  himself  was  engaged.  Soon 
after,  his  queen,  Maria  Eleonora,  landed  in  Pomerania, 
with  a  reinforcement  of  eight  thousand  Swedes  ;  and 
the  arrival  of  six  thousand  English,  under  the  Marquis 
of  Hamilton,  requires  more  particular  notice,  because 
this  is  all  that  history  mentions  of  the  English  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War. 

During  Tilly's  expedition  into  Thuringia,  Pappenheim 
commanded  in  Magdeburg;  but  was  unable  to  prevent 
the  Swedes  from  crossing  the  Elbe  at  various  points, 
routing  some  imperial  detachments,  and  seizing  several 
posts.  He  himself,  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  the 
King  of  Sweden,  anxiously  recalled  Tilly,  and  prevailed 
upon  him  to  return  by  rapid  marches  to  Magdeburg. 
Tilly  encamped  on  this  side  of  the  river  at  Wolmerstadt ; 
Gustavus  on  the  same  side,  near  Werben,  not  far  from 
the  confluence  of  the  Havel  and  the  Elbe.  His  very 
arrival  portended  no  good  to  Tilly.  The  Swedes  routed 
three  of  his  regiments,  which  were  posted  in  villages  at 
some  distance  from  the  main  body,  carried  off  half  their 
baggage,  and  burned  the  remainder.  Tilly  in  vain  ad- 
vanced within  cannon  shot  of  the  king's  camp,  and  offered 
him  battle.  Gustavus,  weaker  by  one  half  than  his  ad- 
versary, prudently  declined  it ;  and  his  position  was  too 
strong  for  an  attack.  Nothing  more  ensued  but  a  dis- 
tant cannonade,  and  a  few  skirmishes,  in  which  the 
Swedes  had  invariably  the  advantage.  In  his  retreat  to 
Wolmerstadt,  Tilly's  army  was  weakened  by  numerous 
desertions.  Fortune  seemed  to  have  forsaken  him  since 
the  carnage  of  Magdeburg. 

The  King  of  Sweden,  on  the  contrary,  was  followed 
by  uninterrupted  success.  While  he  himself  was  en- 
camped in  Werben,  the  whole  of  Mecklenburg,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  towns,  was  conquered  by  his 
general,  Totr,  and  the  Duke  Adolphus  Frederick  ;  and 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  161 


he  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  reinstating  "both  dukes  in 
their  dominions.  He  proceeded  in  person  to  Güstrow, 
where  the  reinstatement  was  solemnly  to  take  place,  to 
give  additional  dignity  to  the  ceremony  by  his  presence. 
The  two  dukes,  with  their  deliverer  between  them,  and 
attended  by  a  splendid  train  of  princes,  made  a  public 
entry  into  the  city,  which  the  joy  of  their  subjects  con- 
verted into  an  affecting  solemnity.  Soon  after  his  re- 
turn to  Werben,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  ap- 
peared in  his  camp,  to  conclude  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  ;  the  first  sovereign  prince  in  Germany,  who 
voluntarily  and  openly  declared  against  the  emperor, 
though  not  wholly  uninfluenced  by  strong  motives.  The 
landgrave  bound  himself  to  act  against  the  king's  enemies 
as  his  own,  to  open  to  him  his  towns  and  territories,  and 
to  furnish  his  army  with  provisions  and  necessaries. 
The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  declared  himself  his  ally 
and  protector ;  and  engaged  to  conclude  no  peace  with 
the  emperor  without  first  obtaining  for  the  landgrave  a 
full  redress  of  grievances.  Both  parties  honorably  per- 
formed their  agreement.  Hesse  Cassel  adhered  to  the 
Swedish  alliance  during  the  whole  of  this  tedious  war  ; 
and  at  the  peace  of  Westphalia  had  no  reason  to  regret 
the  friendship  of  Sweden. 

Tilly,  from  whom  this  bold  step  on  the  part  of  the 
landgrave  was  not  long  concealed,  dispatched  Count 
Fugger  with  several  regiments  against  him;  and  at  the 
same  time  endeavored  to  excite  his  subjects  to  rebellion 
by  inflammatory  letters.  But  these  made  as  little  im- 
pression as  his  troops,  which  subsequently  failed  him  so 
decidedly  at  the  battle  of  Breitenfeld.  The  estates  of 
Hesse  could  not  for  a  moment  hesitate  between  their 
oppressor  and  their  protector. 

But  the  imperial  general  was  far  more  disturbed  by 
the  equivocal  conduct  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who,  in 
defiance  of  the  imperial  prohibition,  continued  his  prep- 
arations, and  adhered  to  the  confederation  of  Leipzig. 
At  this  conjuncture,  when  the  proximity  of  the  King  of 
Sweden  made  a  decisive  battle  ere  long  inevitable,  it 
appeared  extremely  dangerous  to  leave  Saxony  in  arms, 
and  ready  in  a  moment  to  declare  for  the  enemy.  Tilly 
had  just  received  a  reinforcement  of  twenty- five  thou- 
tl  o2 


162 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


sand  veteran  troops  under  Furstenberg,  and,  confident  in 
his  strength,  he  hoped  either  to  disarm  the  elector  by 
the  mere  terror  of  his  arrival,  or  at  least  to  conquer  him 
with  little  difficulty.  Before  quitting  his  camp  at  Wol- 
merstadt,  he  commanded  the  elector,  by  a  special  mes- 
senger, to  open  his  territories  to  the  imperial  troops ; 
either  to  disband  his  own,  or  to  join  thorn  to  the  imperial 
army  ;  and  to  assist,  in  conjunction  with  himself,  in  driv- 
ing the  King  of  Sweden  out  of  Germany.  While  he 
reminded  him  that,  of  all  the  German  states,  Saxony 
had  hitherto  been  most  respected,  he  threatened  it,  in 
case  of  refusal,  with  the  most  destructive  ravages. 

But  Tilly  had  chosen  an  unfavorable  moment  for  so 
imperious  a  requisition.  The  ill  treatment  of  his  reli- 
gious and  political  confederates,  the  destruction  of  Mag- 
deburg, the  excesses  of  the  imperialists  in  Lusatia,  all 
combined  to  incense  the  elector  ngainst  the  emperor. 
The  approach,  too,  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  (however 
slender  his  claims  were  to  the  protection  of  that  prince) 
tended  to  fortify  his  resolution.  He  accordingly  forbade 
the  quartering  of  the  imperial  soldiers  in  his  territories, 
and  announced  his  firm  determination  to  persist  in  his 
warlike  preparations.  However  surprised  he  should 
be,  he  added,  "  to  see  an  imperial  army  on  its  march 
against  his  territories,  when  that  army  had  enough  to 
do  in  watching  the  operations  of  the  King  of  Sweden, 
nevertheless,  he  did  not  expect,  instead  of  the  promised 
and  well  merited  rewards,  to  be  repaid  with  ingratitude 
and  the  ruin  of  his  country."  To  Tilly's  deputies,  who 
were  entertained  in  a  princely  style,  he  gave  a  still  plainer 
answer  on  the  occasion.  "Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "I 
perceive  that  the  Saxon  confectionery,  which  has  been 
so  long  kept  back,  is  at  length  to  be  set  upon  the  table, 
But  as  it  is  usual  to  mix  with  it  nuts  and  garnish  of  all 
kinds,  take  care  of  your  teeth." 

Tilly  instantly  broke  up  his  camp,  and,  with  the  most 
frightful  devastation,  advanced  upon  Halle :  from  this 
place  he  renewed  his  demands  on  the  elector,  in  a  tone 
still  more  urgent  and  threatening.  The  previous  policy 
of  this  prince,  both  from  his  own  inclination,  and  the 
persuasions  of  his  corrupt  minister,  had  been  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  emperor,  even  at  the  expense  of  his 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


163 


own  sacred  obligations,  and  but  very  little  tact  had  hith- 
erto kept  him  inactive.  All  this  but  renders  more  aston- 
ishing the  infatuation  of  the  emperor  or  his  minister,  in 
abandoning,  at  so  critical  a  moment,  the  policy  they  had 
hitherto  adopted,  and,  by  extreme  measures,  incensing  a 
prince  so  easily  led.  Was  this  the  very  object  which 
Tilly  had  in  view  ?  Was  it  his  purpose  to  convert  an 
equivocal  friend  into  an  open  enemy,  and  thus  to  relieve 
himself  from  the  necessity  of  that  indulgence  in  the 
treatment  of  this  prince,  which  the  secret  instructions 
of  the  emperor  had  hitherto  imposed  upon  him  ?  Or  was 
it  the  emperor's  wish,  by  driving  the  elector  to  open 
hostilities,  to  get  quit  of  his  obligations  to  him,  and  so 
cleverly  to  break  off  at  once  the  difficulty  of  a  reckoning? 
In  either  case,  we  must  be  equally  surprised  at  the  dar- 
ing presumption  of  Tilly,  who  hesitated  not,  in  presence 
of  one  formidable  enemy,  to  provoke  another;  and  at 
his  negligence  in  permitting,  without  opposition,  the 
union  of  the  two. 

The  Saxon  elector,  rendered  desperate  by  the  entrance 
of  Tilly  into  his  territories,  threw  himself,  though  not  with- 
out a  violent  struggle,  under  the  protection  of  Sweden. 

Immediately  after  dismissing  Tilly's  first  embassy, 
he  had  dispatched  his  field-marshal  Amheur  in  all  haste 
to  the  camp  of  Gustavus,  to  solicit  the  prompt  assistance 
of  that  monarch  whom  he  had  so  long  neglected.  The 
king  concealed  the  inward  satisfaction  he  felt  at  this  long 
wished-for  result.  "  I  am  sorry  for  the  elector,"  said 
he,  with  dissembled  coldness,  to  the  ambassador  :  "  had 
he  heeded  my  repeated  remonstrances,  his  country  would 
never  have  seen  the  face  of  an  enemy,  and  Magdeburg 
would  not  have  fallen.  Now,  when  necessity  leaves 
him  no  alternative,  he  has  recourse  to  my  assistance. 
But  tell  him,  that  I  cannot,  for  the  sake  of  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  ruin  my  own  cause,  and  that  of  my  confed- 
erates. What  pledge  have  I  for  the  sincerity  of  a 
prince  whose  minister  is  in  the  pay  of  Austria,  and  who 
will  abandon  me  as  soon  as  the  emperor  flatters  him, 
and  withdraws  his  troops  from  his  frontiers  ?  Tilly,  it 
is  true,  has  received  a  strong  reinforcement ;  but  this 
shall  not  prevent  me  from  meeting  him  with  confidence, 
as  soon  as  T  have  covered  my  rear." 


164       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


The  Saxon  minister  could  make  no  other  reply  to 
these  reproaches,  than  that  it  was  best  to  bury  the  past 
in  oblivion. 

He  pressed  the  king  to  name  the  conditions  on  which 
he  would  afford  assistance  to  Saxony,  and  offered  to 
guaranty  their  acceptance.  "  I  require,"  said  Gusta- 
vus,  "  that  the  elector  shall  cede  to  me  the  fortress  of 
Wittenberg,  deliver  to  me  his  eldest  sons  as  hostages, 
furnish  my  troops  with  three  months'  pay,  and  deliver 
up  to  me  the  traitors  among  his  ministry." 

"  Not  Wittenberg  alone,"  said  the  elector,  when  he 
received  this  answer,  and  hurried  back  his  minister  to 
the  Swedish  camp,  "  not  Wittenberg  alone,  but  Torgau, 
and  all  Saxony,  shall  be  open  to  him  ;  my  whole  fam- 
ily shall  be  his  hostages ;  and  if  that  is  insufficient,  I 
will  place  myself  in  his  hands.  Return  and  inform  him 
I  am  ready  to  deliver  to  him  any  traitors  he  shall  name, 
to  furnish  his  army  with  the  money  he  requires,  and  to 
venture  my  life  and  fortune  in  the  good  cause." 

The  king  had  only  desired  to  test  the  sincerity  of  the 
elector's  new  sentiments.  Convinced  of  it,  he  now  re- 
tracted these  harsh  demands.  "  The  distrust,"  said  he, 
"  which  was  shown  to  myself  when  advancing  to  the 
relief  of  Magdeburg,  had  naturally  excited  mine;  the 
elector's  present  confidence  demands  a  return:  I  am  sat 
isfied,  provided  he  grants  my  army  one  month's  pay  ; 
and  even  for  this  advance  I  hope  to  indemnify  him." 

Immediately  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  the 
king  crossed  the  Elbe,  and  next  day  joined  the  Saxons. 
Instead  of  preventing  this  junction,  Tilly  had  advanced 
against  Leipzig,  which  he  summoned  to  receive  an  im- 
perial garrison.  In  hopes  of  speedy  relief,  Hans  Von 
der  Pforta,  the  commandant,  made  preparations  for  his 
defense,  and  laid  the  suburb  toward  Halle  in  ashes. 
But  the  ill  condition  of  the  fortifications  made  resistance 
vain,  and  on  the  second  day  the  gates  were  opened. 
Tilly  had  fixed  his  head-quarters  in  the  house  of  a  grave- 
digger,  the  only  one  still  standing  in  the  suburb  of  Halle  : 
here  he  signed  the  capitulation,  and  here,  too,  he  ar- 
ranged his  attack  on  the  King  of  Sweden.  Tilly  grew 
pal;^  at  the  representation  of  the  death's  head  and  cross 
bones,  with  wh'ch  the  proprietor  had  decorated  his 


SCHILLERE   THIRTY   YEARS*   WAR.  165 

house  ;  and,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  Leipzig  expe- 
rienced moderate  treatment. 

Meanwhile,  a  council  of  war  was  held  at  Torgau,  be- 
tween the  King  of  Sweden  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
at  which  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  was  also  present. 
The  resolution  which  should  now  be  adopted,  was  to 
decide  irrevocably  the  fate  of  Germany  and  the  Protes- 
tant religion,  the  happiness  of  nations,  and  the  destiny 
of  their  princes.  The  anxiety  of  suspense  which,  be- 
fore every  decisive  resolve,  oppresses  even  the  hearts  of 
heroes,  appeared  now  for  a  moment  to  overshadow  the 
great  mind  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  "  If  we  decide  upon 
battle,"  said  he,  "  the  stake  will  be  nothing  less  than  a 
crown  and  two  electorates.  Fortune  is  changeable,  and 
the  inscrutable  decrees  of  Heaven  may,  for  our  sins, 
give  the  victory  to  our  enemies.  My  kingdom,  it  is 
true,  even  after  the  loss  of  my  life  and  my  army,  would 
still  have  a  hope  left.  Far  removed  from  the  scene  of 
action,  defended  by  a  powerful  fleet,  a  well-guarded 
frontier,  and  a  warlike  population,  it  would  at  least  be 
safe  from  the  worst  consequences  of  a  defeat.  But 
what  chances  of  escape  are  there  for  you,  with  an  en- 
emy so  close  at  hand  ?"  Gustavus  Adolphus  displayed 
the  modest  diffidence  of  a  hero,  whom  an  overweening 
belief  of  his  own  strength  did  not  blind  to  the  greatness 
of  his  danger — John  George,  the  confidence  of  a  weak 
man,  who  knows  that  he  has  a  hero  by  his  side.  Im- 
patient to  rid  his  territories  as  soon  as  possible  of  the 
oppressive  presence  of  two  armies,  he  burned  for  a  bat- 
tle, in  which  he  had  no  former  laurels  to  lose.  He 
was  ready  to  march  with  his  Saxons  alone  against  Leip- 
zig, and  attack  Tilly.  At  last,  Gustavus  acceded  to 
his  opinion ;  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  attack  should 
be  made  without  delay,  before  the  arrival  of  the  rein- 
forcements, which  were  on  their  way,  under  Altringer 
and  Tiefenbach.  The  united  Swedish  and  Saxon  ar- 
mies now  crossed  the  Mulda,  while  the  elector  returned 
homeward. 

Early  on  the  moruing  of  the  7th  September,  1631,  the 
hostile  armies  came  in  sight  of  each  other.  Tilly,  who, 
since  he  had  neglected  the  opportunity  of  overpowering 
the  Saxons  before  their  union  with  the  Swedes,  was  dis- 


160       schillfr's  thirty  years'  war. 

posed  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcements,  had 
taken  up  a  strong  and  advantageous  position  not  far  from 
Leipzig,  where  he  expected  he  should  be  able  to  avoid 
the  battle.  But  the  impetuosity  of  Pappenheim  obliged 
him,  as  soon  as  the  enemy  were  in  motion,  to  alter  his 
plans,  and  to  move  to  the  left,  in  the  direction  of  the 
hills  which  run  from  the  village  of  Wahren  toward  Lin- 
denthal. At  the  foot  of  these  heights  his  army  was 
drawn  up  in  a  single  line,  and  his  artillery  placed  upon 
the  heights  behind,  from  which  it  could  sweep  the  whole 
extensive  plain  of  Breitenfeld.  The  Swedish  and  Saxon 
army  advanced  in  two  columns,  having  to  pass  the  Lober 
near  Podelwitz,  in  Tilly's  front. 

To  defend  the  passage  of  this  rivulet,  Pappenheim  ad- 
vanced at  the  head  of  two  thousand  cuirassiers,  though 
after  great  reluctance  on  the  part  of  Tilly,  and  with  ex- 
press orders  not  to  commence  a  battle.  But,  in  disobe- 
dience to  this  command,  Pappenheim  attacked  the  van- 
guard of  the  Swedes,  and,  after  a  brief  struggle,  was 
driven  to  retreat.  To  check  the  progress  of  the  enemy, 
he  set  fire  to  Podelwitz,  which,  however,  did  not  pre- 
vent the  two  columns  from  advancing  and  forming  in 
order  of  battle. 

On  the  right,  the  Swedes  drew  up  in  a  double  line,  the 
infantry  in  the  center,  divided  into  such  small  battalions 
as  could  be  easily  and  rapidly  manceuvered  without  break- 
ing their  order ;  the  cavalry,  upon  their  wings,  divided, 
in  the  same  manner,  into  small  squadrons,  interspersed 
with  bodies  of  musqueteers,  so  as  both  to  give  an  ap- 
pearance of  greater  numerical  force,  and  to  annoy  the 
enemy's  horse.  Colonel  Teufel  commanded  the  cen- 
ter, Gustavus  Horn  the  left,  while  the  right  was  led 
by  the  king  in  person,  opposed  to  Count  Pappen- 
heim. 

On  the  left,  the  Saxons  formed,  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  the  Swedes,  by  the  advice  of  Gustavus,  which 
was  justified  by  the  event.  The  order  of  battle  had  been 
arranged  between  the  elector  and  his  field-marshal,  and 
the  king  was  content  with  merely  signifying  his  approval. 
He  was  anxious,  apparently,  to  separate  the  Swedish 
prowess  from  that  of  the  Saxons,  and  fortune  did  not 
confound  them. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  167 


The  enemy  was  drawn  up  under  the  heights  toward 
the  west,  in  one  immense  line,  long  enough  to  outflank 
the  Swedish  army — the  infantry  being  divided  in  large 
battalions,  the  cavalry  in  equally  unwieldy  squadrons. 
The  artillery  being  on  the  heights  behind,  the  range  of 
its  fire  was  over  the  heads  of  his  men.  From  this 
position  of  his  artillery,  it  was  evident  that  Tilly's  pur- 
pose was  to  await  rather  than  to  attack  the  enemy  ;  since 
this  arrangement  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  do  so 
without  exposing  his  men  to  the  fire  of  his  own  cannons. 
Tilly  himself  commanded  the  center,  Count  Fursten- 
berg  the  right  wing,  and  Fappenheim  the  left.  The 
united  troops  of  the  emperor  and  the  League,  on  this 
day,  did  not  amount  to  thirty-four  thousand  or  thirty- 
five  thousand  men ;  the  Swedes  and  Saxons  were  about 
the  same  number.  But  had  a  million  been  confronted 
with  a  million,  it  could  only  have  rendered  the  action 
more  bloody,  certainly  not  more  important  and  decisive. 
For  this  day  Gustavus  had  crossed  the  Baltic,  to  court 
danger  in  a  distant  country,  and  expose  his  crown  and 
life  to  the  caprice  of  fortune.  The  two  greatest  generals 
of  the  time,  both  hitherto  invincible,  were  now  to  be 
matched  against  each  other  in  a  contest  which  both  had 
long  avoided  ;  and  on  this  field  of  battle  the  hitherto  un- 
tarnished laurels  of  one  leader  must  droop  forever.  The 
two  parties  in  Germany  had  beheld  the  approach  of  this 
day  with  fear  and  trembling;  and  the  whole  age  awaited 
with  deep  anxiety  its  issue,  and  posterity  was  either  to 
bless  or  deplore  it  forever. 

Tilly's  usual  intrepidity  and  resolution  seemed  to  for- 
sake him  on  this  eventful  day.  He  had  formed  no  regular 
plan  for  giving  battle  to  the  king,  and  he  displayed  as  little 
firmness  in  avoiding  it.  Contrary  to  his  own  judgment, 
Pappenheim  had  forced  him  to  action.  Doubts,  which 
he  had  never  before  felt,  struggled  in  his  bosom ;  gloomy 
forebodings  clouded  his  ever  open  brow ;  the  shade  of 
Magdeburg  seemed  to  hover  over  him. 

A  cannonade  of  two  hours  commenced  the  battle  ;  the 
wind,  which  was  from  the  west,  blew  thick  clouds  of 
smoke  and  dust  from. the  newly  ploughed  and  parched 
fields  into  the  faces  of  the  Swedes.  This  compelled 
the  king  insensibly  to  wheel  northward,  and  the  rapidity 


168      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


with  which  this  movement  was  executed  left  no  time  to 
the  enemy  to  prevent  it. 

Tilly  at  last  left  his  heights,  and  began  the  first  attack 
upon  the  Swedes ;  but,  to  avoid  their  hot  fire,  he  filed 
off  toward  the  right,  and  fell  upon  the  Saxons  with  such 
impetuosity  that  their  line  was  .  broken,  and  the  whole 
army  thrown  into  confusion.  The  elector  himself  retired 
to  Eilenburg,  though  a  few  regiments  still  maintained 
their  ground  upon  the  field,  and  by  a  bold  stand  saved 
the  honor  of  Saxony.  Scarcely  had  the  confusion  began 
ere  the  Croats  commenced  plundering,  and  messengers 
were  dispatched  to  Munich  and  Vienna  with  the  news 
of  the  victory. 

Pappenheim  had  thrown  himself  with  the  whole 
force  of  his  cavalry  upon  the  right  wing  of  the  Swedes, 
but  without  being  able  to  make  it  waver.  The  king 
commanded  here  in  person,  and  under  him  General 
Banner.  Seven  times  did  Pappenheim  renew  the  at- 
tack, and  seven  times  was  he  repulsed.  He  fled  at 
last  with  great  loss,  and  abandoned  the  field  to  his  con- 
queror. 

In  the  mean  time,  Tilly,  having  routed  the  remainder 
Of  the  Saxons,  attacked  with  his  victorious  troops  the 
left  wing  of  the  Swedes.  To  this  wing  the  king,  as 
soon  as  he  perceived  that  the  Saxons  were  thrown  into 
disorder,  had,  with  a  ready  foresight,  detached  a  rein^ 
forceraent  of  three  regiments  to  cover  its  flank,  which 
the 'flight  of  the  Saxons  had  left  exposed.  Gustavus 
Horn,  who  commanded  here,  showed  the  enemy's  cui- 
rassiers a  spirited  resistance,  which  the  infantiy,  inter- 
spersed among  the  squadrons  of  horse,  materially  as- 
sisted. The  enemy  was  already  beginning  to  relax  the 
vigor  of  their  attack,  when  Gustavus  Adolphus  appeared 
to  terminate  the  contest.  The  left  wing  of  the  impe- 
rialists had  been  routed ;  and  the  king's  division,  having 
no  longer  any  enemy  to  oppose,  could  now  turn  their 
arms  wherever  it  would  be  to  the  most  advantage. 
Wheeling,  therefore,  with  his  right  wing  and  main  body 
to  the  left,  he  attacked  the  heights  on  which  the  enemy's 
artillery  was  planted.  Gaining  possession  of  them  in 
a  short  time,  he  turned  upon  the  enemy  the  full  fire  of 
their  own  cannon. 


schillere  thirty  years'  war.  169 


The  play  of  artillery  upon  their  flank,  and  the  terri- 
ble onslaught  of  the  Swedes  in  front,  threw  this  hitherto 
invincible  army  into  confusion.  A  sudden  retreat  was 
the  only  course  left  to  Tilly,  but  even  this  was  to  be 
made  through  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  The  whole 
army  was  in  disorder,  with  the  exception  of  four  regi- 
ments of  veteran  soldiers,  who  never  as  yet  had  fled 
from  the  field,  and  were  resolved  not  to  do  so  now. 
Closing  their  ranks,  they  broke  through  the  thickest  of 
the  victorious  army  and  gained  a  small  thicket,  where 
they  opposed  a  new  front  to  the  Swedes,  and  main- 
tained their  resistance  till  night,  when  their  number 
was  reduced  to  six  hundred  men.  With  them  fled  the 
wreck  of  Tilly's  army,  and  the  battle  was  decided. 

Amid  the  dead  and  the  wounded  Gustavus  Adolphus 
threw  himself  on  his  knees  ;  and  the  first  joy  of  his  vic- 
tory gushed  forth  in  fervent  prayer.  He  ordered  his 
cavalry  to  pursue  the  enemy  as  long  as  the  darkness  of 
the  night  would  permit.  The  pealing  of  the  alarm- 
bells  set  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  neighboring  villages  in 
motion,  and  utterly  lost  was  the  unhappy  fugitive  who 
fell  into  their  hands.  The  king  encamped  with  the 
rest  of  his  army  between  the  field  of  battle  and  Leipzig, 
as  it  was  impossible  to  attack  the  town  the  same  night. 
Seven  thousand  of  the  enemy  were  killed  in  the  field, 
and  more  than  five  thousand  either  wounded  or  taken 
prisoners.  Their  whole  artillery  and  camp  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Swedes,  and  more  than  one  hundred  stand- 
ards and  colors  were  taken.  Of  the  Saxons  about  two 
housand  had  fallen,  while  the  loss  of  the  Swedes  did 
not  exceed  seven  hundred.  The  rout  of  the  imperial- 
ists was  so  complete,  that  Tilly,  on  his  retreat  to  Halle 
and  Halberstadt,  could  not  rally  above  six  hundred  men, 
or  Pappenheim  more  than  fourteeen  hundred — so  rap- 
idly was  this  formidable  army  dispersed,  which  so  lately 
was  the  terror  of  Italy  and  Germany. 

Tilly  himself  owed  his  escape  merely  to  chance. 
Exhausted  by  his  wounds,  he  still  refused  to  surrender 
to  a  Swedish  captain  of  horse,  who  summoned  him  to 
yield  ;  but  who,  when  he  was  on  the  point  of  putting 
him  to  death,  was  himself  stretched  on  the  ground  by  a 
timely  pistol-shot.    But  more  grievous  than  danger  or 


170 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


wounds  was  the  pain  of  surviving  his  reputation,  and  of 
losing  in  a  single  day  the  fruits  of  a  long  life.  All  former 
victories  were  as  nothing,  since  he  had  failed  in  gaining 
the  one  that  should  have  crowned  them  all.  Nothing 
remained  of  all  his  past  exploits  but  the  general  execra- 
tion which  had  followed  them.  From  this  period  he 
never  recovered  his  cheerfulness  or  his  good  fortune. 
Even  his  last  consolation,  the  hope  of  revenge,  was  de- 
nied to  him,  by  the  express  command  of  the  emperor 
not  to  risk  a  decisive  battle. 

The  disgrace  of  this  day  is  to  be  ascribed  principally 
to  three  mistakes  :  his  planting  the  cannon  on  the  hills 
behind  him,  his  afterward  abandoning  these  heights, 
and  his  allowing  the  enemy,  without  opposition,  to  form 
in  order  of  battle.  But  how  easily  might  those  mistakes 
have  been  rectified,  had  it  not  been  for  the  cool  pres- 
ence of  mind  and  superior  genius  of  his  adversary  ! 

Tilly  fled  from  Halle  to  Halberstadt,  where  he  scarcely 
allowed  time  for  the  cure  of  his  wounds,  before  he  hur- 
ried toward  the  Weser  to  recruit  his  force  by  the  im- 
perial garrisons  in  Lower  Saxony. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  had  not  failed,  after  the  dan- 
ger was  over,  to  appear  in  Gustavus's  camp.  The  king 
thanked  him  for  having  advised  a  battle ;  and  the  elector, 
charmed  at  his  friendly  reception,  promised  him,  in  the 
first  transports  of  joy,  the  Roman  crown.  Gustavus  set 
out  next  day  for  Merseburg,  leaving  the  elector  to  re- 
cover Leipzig.  Five  thousand  imperialists,  who  had 
collected  together  after  the  defeat,  and  whom  he  met 
on  his  march,  were  either  cut  in  pieces  or  taken  prison- 
ers, of  whom  again  the  greater  part  entered  into  his 
service.  Merseburg  quickly  surrendered ;  Halle  was 
soon  after  taken,  whither  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  after 
making  himself  master  of  Leipzig,  repaired  to  meet  the 
king,  and  to  concert  their  future  plan  of  operations . 

The  victory  was  gained,  but  only  a  prudent  use  of  it 
could  render  it  decisive.  The  imperial  armies  were 
totally  routed,  Saxony  free  from  the  enemy,  and  Tilly 
had  retired  into  Brunswick.  To  have  followed  him 
thither  would  have  been  to  renew  the  war  in  Lower 
Saxony,  which  had  scarcely  recovered  from  the  rava- 
ges of  the  last.    It  was,  therefore,  determined  to  carry 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  171 


the  war  into  the  enemy's  country,  which,  open  and  de- 
fenseless as  far  as  Vienna,  invited  attack.  On  their 
right,  they  might  fall  upon  the  territories  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  princes,  or  penetrate,  on  the  left,  into  the  he- 
reditary dominions  of  Austria,  and  make  the  emperor 
tremble  in  his  palace.  Both  plans  were  resolved  on; 
and  the  question  that  now  remained  was  to  assign  its 
respective  parts.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  at  the  head  of  a 
victorious  army,  had  little  resistance  to  apprehend  in 
his  progress  from  Leipzig  to  Prague,  Vienna,  and  Pres- 
burg.  As  to  Bohemia,  Moravia,  Austria,  and  Hungary, 
they  had  been  stripped  of  their  defenders,  while  the 
oppressed  Protestants  in  these  countries  were  ripe  for 
a  revolt.  Ferdinand  was  no  longer  secure  in  his  capi- 
tal; Vienna,  on  the  first  terror  of  surprise,  would  at 
once  open  its  gates.  The  loss  of  his  territories  would 
deprive  the  enemy  of  the  resources  by  which  alone  the 
war  could  be  maintained ;  and  Ferdinand  would,  in  all 
probability,  gladly  accede,  on  the  hardest  conditions,  to 
a  peace  which  would  remove  a  formidable  enemy  from 
the  heart  of  his  dominions.  This  bold  plan  of  opera- 
tions was  flattering  to  a  conqueror,  and  success  perhaps 
might  have  justified  it.  But  Gustavus  Adolphus,  as  pru- 
dent as  he  was  brave,  and  more  a  statesman  than  a  con- 
queror, rejected  it,  because  he  had  a  higher  end  in  view, 
and  would  not  trust  the  issue  either  to  bravery  or  good 
fortune  alone. 

By  marching  toward  Bohemia,  Franconia  and  the 
Upper  Rhine  would  be  left  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony. 
But  Tilly  had  already  begun  to  recruit  his  shattered 
army  from  the  garrisons  in  Lower  Saxony,  and  was 
likely  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  force  upon  the 
Weser,  and  to  lose  no  time  in  marching  against  the  en- 
emy. To  so  experienced  a  general,  it  would  not  do  to 
oppose  an  Arnheim,  of  whose  military  skill  the  battle  of 
Leipzig  had  afforded  but  equivocal  proof;  and  of  what 
avail  would  be  the  rapid  and  brilliant  career  of  the  king 
in  Bohemia  and  Austria,  if  Tilly  should  recover  his  su- 
periority in  the  empire,  animating  the  courage  of  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  disarming,  by  a  new  series  of 
victories,  the  allies  and  confederates  of  the  king  ?  What 
would  he  gain  by  expelling  the  emperor  from  his  hered- 


172       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


itary  dominions,  if  Tilly  succeeded  in  conquering  for 
that  emperor  the  rest  of  Germany  ?  Could  he  hope  to 
reduce  the  emperor  more  than  had  been  done,  twelve 
years  before,  by  the  insurrection  of  Bohemia,  which  had 
failed  to  shake  the  firmness  or  exhaust  the  resources  of 
that  prince,  and  from  which  he  had  risen  more  formida- 
ble than  ever  ? 

Less  brilliant,  but  more  solid,  were  the  advantages 
which  he  had  to  expect  from  an  incursion  into  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  League.  In  this  quarter,  his  appearance 
in  arms  would  be  decisive.  At  this  very  conjuncture, 
the  princes  were  assembled  in  a  diet  at  Frankfort,  to 
deliberate  upon  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  where  Ferdi- 
nand employed  all  his  artful  policy  to  persuade  the  intim- 
idated Protestants  to  accede  to  a  speedy  and  disadvan- 
tageous arrangement.  The  advance  of  their  protector 
could  alone  encourage  them  to  a  bold  resistance,  and 
disappoint  the  emperor's  designs.  Gustavus  Adolphus 
hoped,  by  his  presence,  to  unite  the  discontented  princes, 
or  by  the  terror  of  his  arms  to  detach  them  from  the  em- 
peror's party.  Here,  in  the  center  of  Germany,  he  could 
paralyze  the  nerves  of  the  imperial  power,  which,  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  League,  must  soon  fall — here,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  France,  he  could  watch  the  movements 
of  a  suspicious  ally ;  and  however  important  to  his  secret 
views  it  was  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  electors,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  making  him- 
self first  of  all  master  of  their  fate,  in  order  to  establish,  by 
his  magnanimous  forbearance,  a  claim  to  their  gratitude. 

He  accordingly  chose  the  route  to  Franconia  and  the 
Rhine  ;  and  left  the  conquest  of  Bohemia  to  the  Elector 
of  Saxony. 


BOOK  III. 

The  glorious  battle  of  Leipzig  effected  a  great  change 
in  the  conduct  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  as  well  as  in  the 
opinion  which  both  friends  and  foes  entertained  of  him. 
Successfully  had  he  confronted  the  greatest  general  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  173 

the  age,  and  had  matched  the  strength  of  his  tactics  and 
the  courage  of  his  Swedes  against  the  elite  of  the  impe- 
rial army,  the  most  experienced  troops  in  Europe.  From 
this  moment  he  felt  a  firm  confidence  in  his  own  powers 
— self-confidence  has  always  been  the  parent  of  great 
actions.  In  all  his  subsequent  operations,  more  boldness 
and  decision  are  observable;  greater  determination,  even 
amid  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances ;  a  more  lofty 
tone  toward  his  adversaries,  a  more  dignified  bearing 
toward  his  allies,  and,  even  in  his  clemency,  something 
of  the  forbearance  of  a  conqueror.  His  natural  courage 
was  farther  heightened  by  the  pious  ardor  of  his  imagi- 
nation. He  saw  in  his  own  cause  that  of  heaven,  and  in 
the  defeat  of  Tilly  beheld  the  decisive  interference  of 
Providence  against  his  enemies,  and  in  himself  the  in- 
strument of  divine  vengeance.  Leaving  his  crown  aud 
his  country  far  behind,  he  advanced  on  the  wings  of  vic- 
tory into  the  heart  of  Germany,  which  for  centuries  had 
seen  no  foreign  conqueror  within  its  bosom.  The  war- 
like spirit  of  its  inhabitants,  the  vigilance  of  its  numerous 
princes,  the  artful  confederation  of  its  states,  the  number 
of  its  strong  castles,  its  many  and  broad  rivers,  had  long 
restrained  the  ambition  of  its  neighbors;  and  frequently 
as  its  extensive  frontier  had  been  attacked,  its  interior 
had  been  free  from  hostile  invasion.  The  empire  had 
hitherto  enjoyed  the  equivocal  privilege  of  being  its  own 
enemy,  though  invincible  from  without.  Even  now,  it 
was  merely  the  disunion  of  its  members,  and  the  intoler- 
ance of  religious  zeal,  that  paved  the  way  for  the  Swed- 
ish invader.  The  bond  of  union  between  the  states, 
which  alone  had  rendered  the  empire  invincible,  was 
now  dissolved ;  and  Gustavus  derived  from  Germany 
itself  the  power  by  which  he  subdued  it.  With  as  much 
courage  as  prudence,  he  availed  himself  of  all  that  the 
favorable  moment  afforded  ;  and  equally  at  home  in  the 
cabinet  and  the  field,  he  tore  asunder  the  web  of  the 
artful  policy,  with  as  much  ease  as  he  shattered  walls 
with  the  thunder  of  his  cannon.  Uninterruptedly  he  pur- 
sued his  conquests  from  one  end  of  Germany  to  the 
other,  without  breaking  the  line  of  posts  which  com- 
manded a  secure  retreat  at  any  moment ;  and  whether 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  or  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lech, 
p  2 


174 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


alike  maintaining  his  communication  with  his  hereditary- 
dominions. 

The  consternation  of  the  emperor  and  the  League  at 
Tilly's  defeat  at  Leipzig,  was  scarcely  greater  than  the 
surprise  and  embarrassment  of  the  allies  of  the  King  of 
Sweden  at  his  unexpected  success.  It  was  beyond  both 
their  expectations  and  their  wishes.  Annihilated  in  a 
moment  was  that  formidable  army  which,  while  it 
checked  his  progress,  and  set  bounds  to  his  ambition, 
rendered  him  in  some  measure  dependent  on  them- 
selves. He  now  stood  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  alone, 
without  a  rival,  or  without  an  adversary  who  was  a  match 
for  him.  Nothing  could  stop  his  progress,  or  check  his 
pretensions,  if  the  intoxication  of  success  should  tempt 
him  to  abuse  his  victory.  If  formerly  they  had  dreaded 
the  emperor's  irresistible  power,  there  was  no  less  cause 
now  to  fear  every  thing  for  the  empire,  from  the  violence 
of  a  foreign  conqueror,  and  for  the  Catholic  church,  from 
the  religious  zeal  of  a  Protestant  king.  The  distrust 
and  jealousy  of  some  of  the  combined  powers,  which  a 
stronger  fear  of  the  emperor  had  for  a  time  repressed, 
now  revived  ;  and  scarcely  had  Gustavus  Adolphus  mer- 
ited, by  his  courage  and  success,  their  confidence,  when 
they  began  covertly  to  circumvent  all  his  plans.  Through 
a  continual  struggle  with  the  arts  of  enemies,  and  the 
distrust  of  his  own  allies,  must  his  victories  henceforth 
be  won;  yet  resolution,  penetration,  and  prudence  made 
their  way  through  all  impediments.  But  while  his  suc- 
cess excited  the  jealousy  of  his  more  powerful  allies, 
France  and  Saxony,  it  gave  courage  to  the  weaker,  and 
emboldened  them  openly  to  declare  their  sentiments, 
and  join  his  party.  Those  who  could  neither  vie  with 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in  importance,  nor  suffer  from  his 
ambition,  expected  the  more  from  the  magnanimity  of 
their  powerful  ally,  who  enriched  them  with  the  spoils 
of  their  enemies,  and  protected  them  against  the  op- 
pression of  their  stronger  neighbors.  His  strength  cov- 
ered their  weakness,  and,  inconsiderable  in  themselves, 
they  acquired  weight  and  influence  from  their  union 
with  the  Swedish  hero.  This  was  the  case  with  most 
of  the  free  cities,  and  particularly  with  the  weaker 
Protestant  states.    It  was  these  that  introduced  the 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


175 


king  into  the  heart  of  Germany;  these  covered  his  rear, 
supplied  his  troops  with  necessaries,  received  them  into 
their  fortresses,  while  they  exposed  their  own  lives  in 
his  battles.  His  prudent  regard  to  their  national  pride, 
his  popular  deportment,  some  brilliant  acts  of  justice, 
and  his  respect  for  the  laws,  were  so  many  ties  by 
which  he  bound  the  German  Protestants  to  his  cause  ; 
while  the  crying  atrocities  of  the  imperialists,  the  Span- 
iards, and  the  troops  of  Lorraine,  powerfully  contributed 
to  set  his  own  conduct  and  that  of  his  army  in  a  favor- 
able light. 

If  Gustavus  Adolphus  owed  his  success  chiefly  to  his 
own  genius,  at  the  same  time,  it  must  be  owned,  he 
was  greatly  favored  by  fortune  and  by  circumstances. 
Two  great  advantages  gave  him  a  decided  superiority 
over  the  enemy.  While  he  removed  the  scene  of  war 
into  the  lands  of  the  League,  drew  their  youth  as  re- 
cruits, enriched  himself  with  booty,  and  used  the  reve- 
nues of  their  fugitive  princes  as  his  own,  he  at  once  took 
from  the  enemy  the  means  of  effectual  resistance,  and 
maintained  an  expensive  war  with  little  cost  to  himself. 
And,  moreover,  while  his  opponents,  the  princes  of  the 
League,  divided  among  themselves,  and  governed  by 
different  and  often  conflicting  interests,  acted  without 
unanimity,  and  therefore  without  energy  ;  while  their 
generals  were  deficient  in  authority,  their  troops  in 
obedience,  the  operations  of  their  scattered  armies  with- 
out concert ;  while  the  general  was  separated  from  the 
lawgiver  and  the  statesman  ;  these  several  functions 
were  united  in  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  only  source  from 
which  authority  flowed,  the  sole  object  to  which  the 
eye  of  the  warrior  turned  ;  the  soul  of  his  party,  the 
inventor  as  well  as  the  executor  of  his  plans.  In  him, 
therefore,  the  Protestants  had  a  center  of  unity  and 
harmony,  which  was  altogether  wanting  to  their  oppo- 
nents. No  wonder,  then,  if  favored  by  such  advantages, 
at  the  head  of  such  an  army,  with  such  a  genius  to 
direct  it,  and  guided  by  such  political  prudence,  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus  was  irresistible. 

With  the  sword  in  one  hand,  and  mercy  in  the  other, 
he  traversed  Germany,  as  a  cenqueror,  a  lawgiver,  and  a 
judge,  in  as  short  a  time  almost  as  the  tourist  of  pleasure 


176 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


The  keys  of  towns  and  fortresses  were  delivered  to  him, 
as  if  to  the  native  sovereign.  No  fortress  was  inacces- 
sible ;  no  river  checked  his  victorious  career.  He  con- 
quered by  the  very  terror  of  his  name.  The  Swedish 
standards  were  planted  along  the  whole  stream  of  the 
Maine  :  the  Lower  Palatinate  was  free,  the  troops  of 
Spain  and  Lorraine  had  fled  across  the  Rhine  and  the 
Moselle.  The  Swedes  and  Hessians  poured  like  a  tor- 
rent into  the  territories  of  Mentz,  of  Wurtzburg,  and 
Bamberg,  and  three  fugitive  bishops,  at  a  distance  from 
their  sees,  suffered  dearly  for  their  unfortunate  attach- 
ment to  the  emperor.  It  was  now  the  turn  for  Maxi- 
milian, the  leader  of  the  League,  to  feel  in  his  own 
dominions  the  miseries  he  had  inflicted  upon  others. 
Neither  the  terrible  fate  of  his  allies,  nor  the  peaceful 
overtures  of  Gustavus,  who,  in  the  midst  of  conquest, 
ever  held  out  the  hand  of  friendship,  could  conquer  the 
obstinacy  of  this  prince.  The  torrent  of  war  now  poured 
into  Bavaria.  Like  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  those  of 
the  Lecke  and  the  Donau  were  crowded  with  Swedish 
troops.  Creeping  into  his  fortresses,  the  defeated  elector 
abandoned  to  the  ravages  of  the  foe  his  dominions,  hith- 
erto unscathed  by  war,  and  on  which  the  bigoted  vio- 
lence of  the  Bavarians  seemed  to  invite  retaliation. 
Munich  itself  opened  its  gates  to  the  invincible  mon- 
arch, and  the  fugitive  palatine,  Frederick  V.,  in  the 
forsaken  residence  of  his  rival,  consoled  himself  for  a 
time  for  the  loss  of  his  dominions. 

While  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  extending  his  con- 
quests in  the  south,  his  generals  and  allies  were  gaining 
similar  triumphs  in  the  other  provinces.  Lower  Saxony 
shook  off  the  yoke  of  Austria,  the  enemy  abandoned 
Mecklenburg,  and  the  imperial  garrisons  retired  from 
the  banks  of  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe.  In  Westphalia 
and  the  Upper  Rhine,  William,  Landgrave  of  Hesse, 
rendered  himself  formidable  ;  the  Duke  of  Weimar  in 
Thuringia,  and  the  French  in  the  Electorate  of  Treves ; 
while  to  the  eastward  the  whole  kingdom  of  Bohemia 
was  conquered  by  the  Saxons.  The  Turks  were  pre- 
paring to  attack  Hungary,  and  in  the  heart  of  Austria  a 
dangerous  insurrection  was  threatened.  In  vain  did  the 
emperor  look  around  to  the  courts  of  Europe  for  sup- 


scJHiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


177 


port ;  in  vain  did  be  summon  the  Spaniards  to  his  as- 
sistance, for  the  bravery  of  the  Flemings  afforded  them 
ample  employment  beyond  the  Rhine  ;  in  vain  did  he 
call  upon  the  Roman  court  and  the  whole  church  to 
come  to  his  rescue.  The  offended  Pope  sported,  in 
pompous  processions  and  idle  anathemas,  with  the  em- 
barrassments of  Ferdinand,  and  instead  of  the  desired 
subsidy  he  was  shown  the  devastation  of  Mantau. 

On  all  sides  of  his  extensive  monarchy  hostile  arms 
surrounded  him.  With  the  states  of  the  League,  now 
overrun  by  the  enemy,  those  ramparts  were  thrown 
down,  behind  which  Austria  had  so  long  defended  her- 
self, and  the  embers  of  war  were  now  smoldering  upon 
her  unguarded  frontiers.  His  most  zealous  allies  were 
disarmed  ;  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  his  firmest  support, 
was  scarce  able  to  defend  himself.  His  armies,  weak- 
ened by  desertion  and  repeated  defeat,  and  dispirited  by 
continued  misfortunes,  had  unlearned,  under  beaten 
generals,  that  warlike  impetuosity  which,  as  it  is  the 
consequence,  so  it  is  the  guaranty  of  success.  The 
danger  was  extreme,  and  extraordinary  means  alone 
could  raise  the  imperial  power  from  the  degradation 
into  which  it  was  fallen. 

The  most  urgent  want  was  that  of  a  general ;  and 
the  only  one  from  whom  he  could  hope  for  the  revival 
of  his  former  splendor,  had  been  removed  from  his  com- 
mand by  an  envious  cabal.  So  low  had  the  emperor 
now  fallen,  that  he  was  forced  to  make  the  most  humili- 
ating proposals  to  his  injured  subject  and  servant,  and 
meanly  to  press  upon  the  imperious  Duke  of  Friedland 
the  acceptance  of  the  powers  which  no  less  meanly  had 
been  taken  from  him.  A  new  spirit  began  from  this 
moment  to  animate  the  expiring  body  of  Austria ;  and  a 
sudden  change  in  the  aspect  of  affairs  bespoke  the  firm 
hand  which  guided  them.  To  the  absolute  King  of 
Sweden,  a  general  equally  absolute  was  now  opposed ; 
and  one  victorious  hero  was  confronted  with  another 
Both  armies  were  again  to  engage  in  the  doubtful  strug- 
gle ;  and  the  prize  of  victory,  already  almost  secured  in 
the  hands  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  was  to  be  the  object 
of  another  and  a  severer  trial.  The  storm  of  war  gath- 
ered around  Nuremberg;  before  its  walls  the  hostile 
12 


178        SCHILLEr'kS   THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


armies  encamped  ;  gazing  on  each  other  with  dread  and 
respect,  longing  for,  and  yet  shrinking  from,  the  moment 
that  was  to  close  them  together  in  the  shock  of  battle. 
The  eyes  of  Europe  turned  to  the  scene  in  curiosity 
and  alarm,  while  Nuremberg,  in  dismay,  expected  soon 
to  lend  its  name  to  a  more  decisive  battle  than  that  of 
Leipzig.  Suddenly  the  clouds  broke,  and  the  storm 
rolled  off  toward  Franconia,  to  burst  upon  the  plains 
of  Saxony.  Near  Lützen  fell  the  thunder  that  had 
menaced  Nuremberg ;  the  victory,  half  lost,  was  pur- 
chased by  the  death  of  the  king.  Fortune,  which  had 
never  forsaken  him  in  his  lifetime,  favored  the  King  of 
Sweden  even  in  his  death,  with  the  rare  privilege  of 
falling  in  the  fullness  of  his  glory  and  an  untarnished 
fame.  By  a  timely  death,  his  protecting  genius  rescued 
him  from  the  inevitable  fate  of  man — that  of  forgetting 
moderation  in  the  intoxication  of  success,  and  justice  in 
the  plenitude  of  power.  It  may  be  doubted  whether, 
had  he  lived  longer,  he  would  still  have  deserved  the 
tears  which  Germany  shed  over  his  grave,  or  maintained 
his  title  to  the  admiration  with  which  posterity  regards 
him, — as  the  first  and  only  just  conqueror  that  the  world 
has  produced.  The  untimely  fall  of  their  great  leader 
seemed  to  threaten  the  ruin  of  his  party  ;  but  to  the 
Power  which  rules  the  world,  no  loss  of  a  single  man  is 
irreparable.  As  the  helm  of  war  dropped  from  the  hand 
of  the  falling  hero,  it  was  seized  by  two  great  statesmen, 
Oxenstiern  and  Richelieu.  Destiny  still  pursued  its 
relentless  course,  and  for  full  sixteen  years  longer  the 
flames  of  war  blazed  over  the  ashes  of  the  long-forgotten 
king  and  soldier. 

I  may  now  be  permitted  to  take  a  cursory  retrospect 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  his  victorious  career  ;  glance  at 
the  scene  in  which  he  alone  was  the  great  actor;  and 
then,  when  Austria  becomes  reduced  to  extremity  by 
the  successes  of  the  Swedes,  and  by  a  series  of  disasters 
is  driven  to  the  most  humiliating  and  desperate  expedi- 
ents, to  return  to  the  history  of  the  emperor. 

As  soon  as  the  plan  of  operations  had  been  con- 
certed at  Halle,  between  the  King  of  Sweden  and  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  ;  as  soon  as  the  alliance  had  been 
concluded  with  the  neighboring  princes  of  W eimar  and 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  179 


Anhalt,  and  preparations  made  for  the  recovery  of  the 
bishopric  of  Magdeburg,  the  king  began  his  march  into 
the  empire.  He  had  here  no  despicable  foe  to  contend 
with.  Within  the  empire  the  emperor  was  still  power- 
ful;  throughout  Franconia,  Suabia,  and  the  Palatinate, 
imperial  garrisons  were  posted,  with  whom  the  posses- 
sion of  every  place  of  importance  must  be  disputed  sword 
in  hand.  On  the  Rhine  he  was  opposed  by  the  Spaniards, 
who  had  overrun  the  territory  of  the  banished  Elector 
Palatine,  seized  all  its  strong  places,  and  would  every- 
where dispute  with  him  the  passage  over  that  river. 
On  his  rear  was  Tilly,  who  was  fast  recruiting  his  force, 
and  would  soon  be  joined  by  the  auxiliaries  from  Lor- 
raine. Every  papist  presented  an  inveterate  foe,  while 
his  connection  with  France  did  not  leave  him  at  liberty 
to  act  with  freedom  against  the  Roman  Catholics.  Gus- 
tavus  had  foreseen  all  these  obstacles,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  the  means  by  which  they  were  to  be  overcome. 
The  strength  of  the  imperialists  was  broken  and  divided 
among  different  garrisons,  while  he  would  bring  against 
them,  one  by  one,  his  whole  united  force.  If  he  was  to 
be  opposed  by  the  fanaticism  of  the  Roman  Catholics, 
and  the  awe  in  which  the  lesser  states  regarded  the 
emperor's  power,  he  might  depend  on  the  active  sup- 
port of  the  Protestants,  and  their  hatred  to  Austrian  op- 
pression. The  ravages  of  the  imperialist  and  Spanish 
troops  also  powerfully  aided  him  in  these  quarters ; 
where  the  ill-treated  husbandman  and  citizen  sighed 
alike  for  a  deliverer,  and  where  the  mere  change  of 
yoke  seemed  to  promise  a  relief.  Emissaries  were  dis- 
patched, to  gain  over  to  the  Swedish  side  the  principal 
free  cities,  particularly  Nuremberg  and  Frankfort.  The 
first  that  lay  in  the  king's  march,  and  which  he  could 
not  leave  unoccupied  in  his  rear,  was  Erfurt.  Here  the 
Protestant  party,  among  the  citizens,  opened  to  him, 
without  a  blow,  the  gates  of  the  town  and  citadel.  From 
the  inhabitants  of  this,  as  of  every  important  place  which 
afterward  submitted,  he  exacted  an  oath  of  allegiance, 
while  he  secured  its  possession  by  a  sufficient  garrison. 
To  his  ally,  Duke  William  of  Weimar,  he  intrusted  the 
command  of  an  army  to  be  raised  in  Thuringia.  He  also 
left  his  queen  in  Erfurt,  and  promised  to  increase  its 


180      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


privileges.  The  Swedish  army  now  crossed  the  Thu- 
ringian  forest  in  two  columns,  by  Gotha  and  Arnstadt, 
and  having  delivered,  in  its  march,  the  county  of  Henne- 
berg  from  the  imperialists,  formed  a  junction,  on  the 
third  day,  near  Koenigshofen,  on  the  frontiers  of  Fran- 
conia. 

Francis,  Bishop  of  Wurtzburg,  the  bitter  enemy  of 
the  Protestants,  and  the  most  zealous  member  of  the 
League,  was  the  first  to  feel  the  indignation  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  A  few  threats  gained  for  the  Swedes  pos- 
session of  his  fortress  of  Koenigshofen,  and  with  it  the 
key  of  the  whole  province.  At  the  news  of  this  rapid 
conquest,  dismay  seized  all  the  Roman  Catholic  towns 
of  the  circle.  The  bishops  of  Wurtzburg  and  Bam- 
berg trembled  in  their  castles ;  they  already  saw  their 
sees  tottering,  their  churches  profaned,  and  their  reli- 
ed the  most  frightful  representations  of  the  persecuting 
gion  degraded.  The  malice  of  his  enemies  had  circulat- 
spirit  and  the  mode  of  warfare  pursued  by  the  Swedish 
king  and  his  soldiers,  which  neither  the  repeated  assur- 
ances of  the  king,  nor  the  most  splendid  examples  ot 
humanity  and  toleration,  ever  entirely  effaced.  Many 
feared  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  another  what,  in  similar 
circumstances,  they  were  conscious  of  inflicting  them- 
selves. Many  of  the  richest  Roman  Catholics  hastened 
to  secure  by  flight  their  property,  their  religion,  and 
their  persons,  from  the  sanguinary  fanaticism  of  the 
Swedes.  The  bishop  himself  set  the  example.  In  the 
midst  of  the  alarm,  which  his  bigoted  zeal  had  caused, 
he  abandoned  his  dominions,  and  fled  to  Paris,  to  excite, 
if  possible,  the  French  ministry  against  the  common 
enemy  of  religion. 

The  further  progress  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the 
ecclesiastical  territories,  agreed  with  this  brilliant  com- 
mencement. Schweinfurt,  and  soon  afterward  Wurtz- 
burg, abandoned  by  their  imperial  garrisons,  surrender- 
ed ;  but  Marienberg  he  was  obliged  to  carry  by  storm.  In 
this  place,  which  was  believed  to  be  impregnable,  the 
enemy  had  collected  a  large  store  of  provisions  and  am- 
munition, all  of  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes. 
The  king  found  a  valuable  prize  in  the  library  of  the 
Jesuits,  which  he  sent  to  Upsal,  while  his  soldiers  found 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  181 


a  still  more  agreeable  one  in  the  prelate's  well  filled 
cellars  ;  his  treasures  the  bishop  had  in  good  time  re- 
moved. The  whole  bishopric  followed  the  example  of 
the  capital,  and  submitted  to  the  Swedes.  The  king 
compelled  all  the  bishop's  subjects  to  swear  allegiance  to 
himself;  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  lawful  sovereign, 
appointed  a  regency,  one  half  of  whose  members  were 
Protestants.  In  eveiy  Roman  Catholic  town  which 
Gustavus  took,  he  opened  the  churches  to  the  Protes- 
tant people,  but  without  retaliating  on  the  papists  the 
cruelties  which  they  had  practiced  on  the  former.  On 
such  only  as,  sword  in  hand,  refused  to  submit,  were  the 
fearful  rights  of  war  enforced ;  and  for  the  occasional 
acts  of  violence  committed  by  a  few  of  the  more  lawless 
soldiers,  in  the  blind  rage  of  the  first  attack,  their  humane 
leader  is  not  justly  responsible.  Those  who  were  peace- 
ably disposed,  or  defenseless,  were  treated  with  mild 
ness.  It  was  a  sacred  principle  of  Gustavus  to  spare  the 
blood  of  his  enemies,  as  well  as  that  of  his  own  troops. 

On  the  first  news  of  the  Swedish  irruption,  the  Bishop 
of  Wurtzburg,  without  regarding  the  treaty  which  he  had 
entered  into  with  the  King  of  Sweden,  had  earnestly 
pressed  the  general  of  the  League  to  hasten  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  bishopric.  That  defeated  commander 
had,  in  the  mean  time,  collected  on  the  Weser  the  shat- 
tered remnant  of  his  army,  reinforced  himself  from  the 
garrisons  of  Lower  Saxony,  and  effected  a  junction  in 
Hesse,  with  Altringer  and  Fugger,  who  commanded 
under  him.  Again  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force, 
Tilly  burned  with  impatience  to  wipe  out  the  stain  of 
his  first  defeat  by  a  splendid  victory.  From  his  camp  at 
Fulda,  whither  he  had  marched  with  his  army,  he 
earnestly  requested  permission  from  the  Duke  of  Bava- 
ria to  give  battle  to  Gustavus  Adolphus.  But,  in  the 
event  of  Tilly's  defeat,  the  League  had  no  second  army 
to  fall  back  upon,  and  Maximilian  was  too  cautious  to 
risk  again  the  fate  of  his  party  on  a  single  battle.  With 
tears  in  his  eyes,  Tilly  read  the  commands  of  his  supe- 
rior, which  compelled  him  to  inactivity.  Thus  his  march 
to  Franconia  was  delayed,  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  gained 
time  to  overrun  the  whole  bishopric.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Tilly,  reinforced  at  Aschaffenburg  by  a  body  of 


18$         SCIIILLEll'ö   THIRTY   YEARs'  WAR. 

twelve  thousand  men  from  Lorraine,  marched  with  an 
overwhelming  force  to  the  relief  of  Wurtzburg.  The 
town  and  citadel  were  already  in  the  hands  of  the 
Swedes,  and  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  was  generally  blamed 
(and  not  without  cause,  perhaps)  for  having,  by  his  scru- 
ples, occasioned  the  loss  of  the  bishopric.  Commanded 
to  avoid  a  battle,  Tilly  contented  himself  with  checking 
the  farther  advance  of  the  enemy ;  but  he  could  save 
only  a  few  of  the  towns  from  the  impetuosity  of  the 
Swedes.  Baffled  in  an  attempt  to  reinforce  the  weak 
garrison  of  Hanau,  which  it  was  highly  important  to  the 
Swedes  to  gain,  he  crossed  the  Maine,  near  Seligenstadt; 
and  took  the  direction  of  the  Bergstrasse,  to  protect  the 
Palatinate  from  the  conqueror. 

Tilly,  however,  was  not  the  sole  enemy  whom  Gus- 
tavus  Aldolphus  met  in  Franconia,  and  drove  before  him. 
Charles,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  celebrated  in  the  annals  of 
the  time  for  his  unsteadiness  of  character,  his  vain  pro- 
jects, and  his  misfortunes,  ventured  to  raise  a  weak  arm 
against  the  Swedish  hero,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  from 
the  emperor  the  electoral  dignity.  Deaf  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  a  rational  policy,  he  listened  only  to  the  dictates 
of  heated  ambition  ;  by  supporting  the  emperor,  he  ex- 
asperated France,  his  formidable  neighbor;  and,  in  the 
pursuit  of  a  visionary  pliantom  in  another  country,  left 
undefended  his  own  dominions,  wThich  were  instantly 
overrun  by  a  French  army.  Austria  willingly  conceded  to 
him,  as  well  as  to  the  other  princes  of  the  League,  the 
honor  of  being  ruined  in  her  cause.  Intoxicated  with 
vain  hopes,  this  prince  collected  a  force  of  seventeen 
thousand  men,  which  he  proposed  to  lead  in  person 
against  the  Swedes.  If  these  troops  were  deficient  in 
discipline  and  courage,  they  were  at  least  attractive  by 
the  splendor  of  their  accoutrements ;  and  however 
sparing  they  were  of  their  prowess  against  the  foe,  they 
were  liberal  enough  with  it  against  the  defenseless  citi- 
zens and  peasantry,  whom  they  were  summoned  to  de- 
fend against  the  bravery  and  the  formidable  discipline  of 
the  Swedes.  This  splendidly  attired  army,  however, 
made  no  long  stand.  On  the  first  advance  of  the  Swed- 
ish cavalry  a  panic  seized  them,  and  they  were  driven, 
without  difficulty,  from  their  cantonments  in  Wurtz- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  183 


burg ;  the  defeat  of  a  few  regiments  occasioned  a  gen- 
eral rout,  and  the  scattered  remnant  sought  a  covert  from 
the  Swedish  valor  in  the  towns  beyond  the  Rhine. 
Loaded  with  shame  and  ridicule,  the  duke  hurried  home 
by  Strasburg,  too  fortunate  in  escaping,  by  a  submissive 
written  apology,  the  indignation  of  his  conqueror,  who 
had  first  beaten  him  out  of  the  field,  and  then  called  upon 
him  to  account  for  his  hostilities.  It  is  related  upon  this 
occasion  that,  in  a  village  on  the  Rhine,  a  peasant  struck 
the  horse  of  the  duke,  as  he  rode  past,  exclaiming, 
"  Haste,  sir,  you  must  go  quicker  to  escape  the  great 
King  of  Sweden !" 

The  example  of  his  neighbors'  misfortunes  had  taught 
the  Bishop  of  Bamberg  prudence.  To  avert  the  plun- 
dering of  his  territories,  he  made  offers  of  peace,  though 
these  were  intended  only  to  delay  the  king's  course  till 
the  arrival  of  assistance.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  too  hon- 
orable himself  to  suspect  dishonesty  in  another,  readily 
accepted  the  bishop's  proposals,  and  named  the  condi- 
tions on  which  he  was  willing  to  save  his  territories 
from  hostile  treatment.  He  was  the  more  inclined  to 
peace;  as  he  had  no  time  to  lose  in  the  conquest  of  Bam- 
berg, and  his  other  designs  called  him  to  the  Rhine. 
The  rapidity  with  which  he  followed  up  these  plans,  cost 
him  the  loss  of  those  pecuniary  supplies  which,  by  a 
longer  residence  in  Franconia,  he  might  easily  have  ex- 
torted from  the  weak  and  terrified  bishop.  This  artful 
prelate  broke  off  the  negotiations  the  instant  the  storm 
of  war  passed  away  from  his  own  territories.  No  sooner 
had  Gustavus  marched  onward  than  he  threw  himself 
under  the  protection  of  Tilly,  and  received  the  troops 
of  the  emperor  into  the  very  towns  and  fortresses,  which, 
shortly  before,  he  had  shown  himself  ready  to  open  to 
the  Swedes.  By  this  stratagem,  however,  he  only  de- 
layed, for  a  brief  interval,  the  ruin  of  his  bishopric.  A 
Swedish  general,  who  had  been  left  in  Franconia,  un- 
dertook to  punish  the  perfidy  of  the  bishop;  and  the 
ecclesiastical  territory  became  the  seat  of  war,  and  was 
ravaged  alike  by  friends  and  foes. 

The  formidable  presence  of  the  imperialists  had  hith- 
erto been  a  check  upon  the  Franconian  states  ;  but  their 
retreat,  and  the  humane  conduct  of  the  Swedish  king, 


184 


ßCHILLEP/s  TH1RTV   YEARö'  WAR. 


emboldened  the  nobility  and  other  inhabitants  of  this 
circle  to  declare  in  his  favor.  Nuremberg  joyfully  com- 
mitted itself  to  his  protection  ;  and  the  Franconian  no- 
bles were  won  to  his  cause  by  flattering  proclamations, 
in  which  he  condescended  to  apologize  for  his  hostile 
appearance  in  their  dominions.  The  fertility  of  Fran- 
conia,  and  the  rigorous  honesty  of  the  Swedish  soldiers 
in  their  dealings  with  the  inhabitants,  brought  abund- 
ance to  the  camp  of  the  king.  The  high  esteem  which 
the  nobility  of  the  circle  felt  for  Gustavus,  the  respect 
and  admiration  with  which  they  regarded  his  brilliant 
exploits,  the  promises  of  rich  booty  which  the  service  of 
this  monarch  held  out,  greatly  facilitated  the  recruiting 
of  his  troops ;  a  step  which  was  made  necessary  by  de- 
taching so  many  garrisons  from  the  main  body.  At  the 
sound  of  his  drums,  recruits  flocked  to  his  standard  from 
all  quarters. 

The  king  had  scarcely  spent  more  time  in  conquering 
Franconia,  than  he  would  have  required  to  cross  it.  He 
now  left  behind  him  Gustavus  Horn,  one  of  his  best 
generals,  with  a  force  of  eight  thousand  men,  to  com- 
plete and  retain  his  conquest.  He  himself,  with  his 
main  army,  reinforced  by  the  late  recruits,  hastened  to- 
ward the  Rhine  in  order  to  secure  this  frontier  of  the 
empire  from  the  Spaniards;  to  disarm  the  ecclesiastical 
electors,  and  to  obtain  from  their  fertile  territories  new 
resources  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Following 
the  course  of  the  Maine,  he  subjected,  in  the  course  of 
his  march,  Seligenstadt,  Aschaffenburg,  Steinheim,  the 
whole  territory  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  The  impe- 
rial garrisons  seldom  awaited  his  approach,  and  never 
attempted  resistance.  In  the  mean  while  one  of  his 
colonels  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  take  by  surprise 
the  town  and  citadel  of  Hanau,  for  whose  preservation 
Tilly  had  shown  such  anxiety.  Eager  to  be  free  of  the 
oppressive  burden  of  the  imperialists,  the  Count  of 
Hanau  gladly  placed  himself  under  the  milder  yoke  of 
the  King  of  Sweden. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  now  turned  his  whole  attention 
to  Frankfort,  for  it  was  his  constant  maxim  to  cover  his 
rear  by  the  friendship  and  possession  of  the  more  im- 
portant towns.    Frankfort  was  among  the  free  cities 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  185 


which,  even  from  Saxony,  he  had  endeavored  to  pre- 
pare for  his  reception  :  and  he  now  called  upon  it,  by  a 
summons  from  Offenbach,  to  allow  him  a  free  passage, 
and  to  admit  a  Swedish  garrison.  Willingly  would  this 
city  have  dispensed  with  the  necessity  of  choosing  be- 
tween the  King  of  Sweden  and  the  emperor  ;  for,  what- 
ever party  they  might  embrace,  the  inhabitants  had  a 
like  reason  to  fear  for  their  privileges  and  trade.  The 
emperor's  vengeance  would  certainly  fall  heavily  upon 
them,  if  they  were  in  a  hurry  to  submit  to  the  King  of 
Sweden,  and  afterward  he  should  prove  unable  to  pro- 
tect his  adherents  in  Germany.  But  still  more  ruinous 
for  them  would  be  the  displeasure  of  an  irresistible  con- 
queror, who,  with  a  formidable  army,  was  already  be- 
fore their  gates,  and  who  might  punish  their  opposition 
by  the  ruin  of  their  commerce  and  prosperity.  In  vain 
did  their  deputies  plead  the  danger  which  menaced 
their  fairs,  their  privileges,  perhaps  their  constitution 
itself,  if,  by  espousing  the  party  of  the  Swedes,  they 
were  to  incur  the  emperor's  displeasure.  Gustavus 
Adolphus  expressed  to  them  his  astonishment  that, 
when  the  liberties  of  Germany  and  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion were  at  stake,  the  citizens  of  Frankfort  should  talk 
of  their  annual  fairs,  and  postpone,  for  temporal  inter- 
ests, the  great  cause  of  their  country  and  their  con- 
science. He  had,  he  continued,  in  a  menacing  tone, 
found  the  keys  of  every  town  and  fortress,  from  the 
isle  of  Rügen  to  the  Maine,  and  knew  also  where  to 
find  a  key  to  Frankfort ;  the  safety  of  Germany,  and  the 
freedom  of  the  Protestant  church,  were,  he  assured 
them,  the  sole  objects  of  his  invasion ;  conscious  of  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  he  was  determined  not  to  allow  any 
obstacle  to  impede  his  progress.  "The  inhabitants  of 
Frankfort,  he  was  well  aware,  wished  to  stretch  out 
only  a  finger  to  him,  but  he  must  have  the  whole  hand, 
in  order  to  have  something  to  grasp."  At  the  head  of 
the  army,  he  closely  followed  the  deputies  as  they  car- 
ried back  his  answer,  and  in  order  of  battle  awaited, 
near  Saxenhausen,  the  decision  of  the  council. 

If  Frankfort  hesitated  to  submit  to  the  Swedes,  it  was 
solely  from  fear  of  the  emperor  ;  their  own  inclinations 
did  not  allow  them  a  moment  to  doubt  between  the  op- 
«2 


ISO 


SCHILLER^  THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


pressor  of  Germany  and  its  protector.  The  menacing 
preparations  amid  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  now  com- 
pelled them  to  decide,  would  lessen  the  guilt  of  their 
revolt  in  the  eyes  of  the  emperor,  and  by  an  appearance 
of  compulsion  justify  the  step  which  they  willingly  took. 
The  gates  were,  therefore,  opened  to  the  King  of  Swe- 
den, who  marched  his  army  through  this  imperial  town 
in  magnificent  procession,  and  in  admirable  order.  A 
garrison  of  six  hundred  men  was  left  in  Saxenhausen  ; 
while  the  king  himself  advanced  the  same  evening, 
with  the  rest  of  his  army,  against  the  town  of  Höchst 
in  Mentz,  which  surrendered  to  him  before  night. 

While  Gustavus  was  thus  extending  his  conquests 
along  the  Maine,  fortune  crowned  also  the  efforts-  of  his 
generals  and  allies  in  the  north  of  Germany.  Rostock, 
Wismar,  and  Doemitz,  the  only  strong  places  in  the 
Duchy  of  Mecklenburg  which  still  sighed  uuder  the 
yoke  of  the  imperialists,  were  recovered  by  their  legiti- 
mate sovereign,  the  Duke  John  Albert,  under  the  Swed- 
ish general.  Achatius  Tott.  In  vain  did  the  imperial 
general,  Wolf  Count  von  Mansfeld,  endeavor  to  recover 
from  the  Swedes  the  territories  of  Halberstadt,  of  which 
they  had  taken  possession  immediately  upon  the  victory 
of  Leipzig  ;  he  was  even  compelled  to  leave  Magdeburg 
itself  in  their  hands.  The  Swedish  general,  Banner, 
who  with  eight  thousand  men  remained  upon  the  Elbe, 
closely  blockaded  that  city,  and  had  defeated  several  im- 
perial regiments  which  had  been  sent  to  its  relief. 
Count  Mansfeld  defended  it  in  person  with  great  reso- 
lution ;  but  his  garrison  being  too  weak  to  oppose,  for 
any  length  of  time,  the  numerous  force  of  the  besiegers, 
he  was  already  about  to  surrender  on  conditions,  when 
Pappenheim  advanced  to  his  assistance,  and  gave  em- 
ployment elsewhere  to  the  Swedish  arms.  Magdeburg, 
however,  or  rather  the  wretched  huts  that  peeped  out 
miserably  from  among  the  ruins  of  that  once  great 
town,  was  afterward  voluntarily  abandoned  by  the  im- 
perialists, and  immediately  taken  possession  of  by  the 
Swedes. 

Even  Lower  Saxony,  encouraged  by  the  progress  of 
the  king,  ventured  to  raise  its  head  from  the  disasters 
of  the  unfortunate  Danish  war.    They  held  a  congress 


SGTlILLEß'iS   THIRTY    YEARs'   WAR.  187 


at  Hamburg,  and  resolved  upon  raising  three  regiments, 
which  they  hoped  would  be  sufficient  to  free  them  from 
the  oppressive  garrisons  of  the  imperialists.  The  Bishop 
of  Bremen,  a  relation  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  was  not 
content  even  with  this  ;  but  assembled  troops  of  his  own, 
and  terrified  the  unfortunate  monks  and  priests  of  the 
neighborhood,  but  was  quickly  compelled  by  the  impe- 
rial general,  Count  Gronsfeld,  to  lay  down  his  arms. 
Even  George,  Duke  of  Lunenburg,  formerly  a  colonel 
in  the  emperor's  service,  embraced  the  party  of  Gusta- 
vus, for  whom  he  raised  several  regiments,  and  by  oc- 
cupying the  attention  of  the  imperialists  in  Lower  Sax- 
ony, materially  assisted  him. 

But  more  important  service  was  rendered  to  the  king 
by  the  Landgrave  William  of  Hesse  Cassel,  whose  victo- 
rious arms  struck  with  terror  the  greater  part  of  West- 
phalia and  Lower  Saxony,  the  bishopric  of  Fulda,  and 
even  the  electorate  of  Cologne.  It  has  been  already 
stated  that  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  the  alli- 
ance between  the  landgrave  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  at 
Werben,  two  imperial  generals,  Fugger  and  Altringer, 
were  ordered  by  Tilly  to  march  into  Hesse,  to  punish 
the  landgrave  for  his  revolt  from  the  emperor.  But  this 
prince  had  as  firmly  withstood  the  arms  of  his  enemies, 
as  his  subjects  had  the  proclamations  of  Tilly  inciting 
them  to  rebellion,  and  the  battle  of  Leipzig  presently 
relieved  him  of  their  presence.  He  availed  himself  of 
their  absence  with  courage  and  resolution  ;  in  a  short 
time,  Vach  Minden  and  Hoexter  surrendered  to  him, 
while  his  rapid  advance  alarmed  the  bishoprics  of  Fulda, 
Paderborn,  and  the  ecclesiastical  territories  which  bor- 
dered on  Hesse.  The  terrified  states  hastened,  by  a 
speedy  submission,  to  set  limits  to  his  progress,  and  by 
considerable  contributions  to  purchase  exemption  from 
plunder.  After  these  successful  enterprises,  the  land- 
grave united  his  victorious  army  with  that  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  and  concerted  with  him  at  Frankfort  their 
future  plan  of  operations. 

In  this  city,  a  number  of  princes  and  ambassadors 
were  assembled  to  congratulate  Gustavus  on  his  success, 
and  either  to  conciliate  his  favor  or  to  appease  his  in- 
dignation.   Among  them  was  the  fugitive  King  of  Bohe- 


188       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


mia,  the  Palatine  Frederick  V.,  who  had  hastened  from 
Holland  to  throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  his  avenger 
and  protector.  Gustavus  gave  'him  the  unprofitable 
honor  of  greeting  him  as  a  crowned  head,  and  endeav- 
ored, by  a  respectful  sympathy,  to  soften  his  sense  of 
his  misfortunes.  But  great  as  the  advantages  were, 
which  Frederick  had  promised  himself  from  the  power 
and  good  fortune  of  his  protector  ;  and  high  as  were  the 
expectations  he  had  built  on  his  justice  and  magnanimity, 
the  chance  of  this  unfortunate  prince's  reinstatement 
in  his  kingdom  was  as  distant  as  ever.  The  inactivity 
and  contradictory  politics  of  the  English  court  had  abated 
the  zeal  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  an  irritability  which 
he  could  not  always  repress,  made  him  on  this  occasion 
forget  the  glorious  vocation  of  protector  of  the  oppressed, 
in  which,  on  his  invasion  of  Germany,  he  had  so  loudly 
announced  himself. 

The  terrors  of  the  king's  irresistible  strength,  and  the 
near  prospect  of  his  vengeance,  had  also  compelled 
George,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  d'Armstadt,  to  a  timely 
submission.  His  connection  with  the  emperor,  and  his 
indifference  to  the  Protestant  cause,  were  no  secret  to 
the  king,  but  he  was  satisfied  with  laughing  at  so  impo- 
tent an  enemy.  As  the  landgrave  knew  his  own  strength 
and  the  political  situation  of  Germany  so  little,  as  to  offer 
himself  as  mediator  between  the  contending  parties, 
Gustavus  used,  jestingly,  to  call  him  the  peacemaker. 
He  was  frequently  heard  to  say,  when  at  play  he  was 
winning  from  the  landgrave,  "  that  the  money  afforded 
double  satisfaction,  as  it  was  imperial  coin."  To  his 
affinity  with  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  whom  Gustavus 
had  cause  to  treat  with  forbearance,  the  landgrave  was 
indebted  for  the  favorable  terms  he  obtained  from  the 
king,  who  contented  himself  with  the  surrender  of  his 
fortress  of  Russelheim,  and  his  promise  of  observing  a 
strict  neutrality  during  the  war.  The  counts  of  Wes- 
terwald and  Wetterau  also  visited  the  king  in  Frankfort, 
to  offer  him  their  assistance  against  the  Spaniards,  and 
to  conclude  an  alliance,  whicli  was  afterward  of  great 
service  to  him.  The  town  of  Frankfort  itself  had  reason 
to  rejoice  at  the  presence  of  this  monarch,  who  took 
their  commerce  under  his  protection,  and  by  the  most 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  189 


effectual  measures  restored  the  fairs,  which  had  been 
greatly  interrupted  by  the  war. 

The  Swedish  army  was  now  reinforced  by  ten  thou- 
sand Hessians,  which  the  Landgrave  of  Casse  com- 
manded. Gustavus  Adolphus  had  already  invested 
Konigstein ;  Kostheim  and  Fliershain  surrendered  after 
a  short  siege  ;  he  was  in  command  of  the  Maine  ;  and 
transports  were  preparing  with  all  speed  at  Hoechst,  to 
carry  his  troops  across  the  Rhine.  These  preparations 
filled  the  Elector  of  Mentz,  Anselm  Casimir,  with  con- 
sternation :  and  he  no  longer  doubted  but  that  the  storm 
of  war  would  next  fall  upon  him.  Asa  partisan  of  the 
emperor,  and  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
League,  he  could  expect  no  better  treatment  than  his 
confederates,  the  bishops  of  Wurtzburg  and  Bamberg, 
had  already  experienced.  The  situation  of  his  territo- 
ries upon  the  Rhine  made  it  necessary  for  the  enemy  to 
secure  them,  while  the  fertility  afforded  an  irresistible 
temptation  to  a  necessitous  army.  Miscalculating  his 
own  strength  and  that  of  his  adversaries,  the  elector 
flattered  himself  that  he  was  able  to  repel  force  by  force, 
and  weary  out  the  valor  of  the  Swedes  by  the  strength 
of  his  fortresses.  He  ordered  the  fortifications  of  his 
capital  to  be  repaired  with  all  diligence,  provided  it  with 
every  necessary  for  sustaining  a  long  siege,  and  re- 
ceived into  the  town  a  garrison  of  two  thousand  Span- 
iards, under  Don  Philip  de  Sylva.  To  prevent  the 
approach  of  the  Swedish  transports,  he  endeavored  to 
close  the  mouth  of  the  Maine  by  driving  piles,  and  sink- 
ing large  heaps  of  stones  and  vessels.  He  himself,  how- 
ever, accompanied  by  the  Bishop  of  Worms,  and  cariy- 
ing  with  him  his  most  precious  effects,  took  refuge  in 
Cologne,  and  abandoned  his  capital  and  territories  to  the 
rapacity  of  a  tyrannical  garrison.  But  these  prepara- 
tions, which  bespoke  less  of  true  courage  than  of  weak 
and  overweening  confidence,  did  not  prevent  the  Swedes 
from  marching  against  Mentz,  and  making  serious  prep- 
arations for  an  attack  upon  the  city.  While  one  body 
of  their  troops  poured  into  the  Rheingau,  routed  the 
Spaniards  who  remained  there,  and  levied  contributions 
on  the  inhabitants,  another  laid  the  Roman  Catholic 
towns  in  Westerwald  and  Wetteran  under  similar  contri 


190      schjller's  thirty  years'  war. 


butions.  The  main  army  had  encamped  at  Cassel,  oppo- 
site Mentz;  and  Bernhard,  Duke  of  Weimar,  made  him- 
self master  of  the  Mäusethurm  and  the  castle  of  Ehren- 
fels,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine.  Gustavus  was  now 
actively  preparing  to  cross  the  river,  and  to  blockade 
the  town  on  the  land  side,  when  the  movements  of  Tilly 
in  Franconia  suddenly  called  him  from  the  siege,  and 
obtained  for  the  elector  a  short  repose. 

The  danger  of  Nuremberg,  which,  during  the  absence 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  on  the  Rhine,  Tilly  had  made  a 
show  of  besieging,  and,  in  the  event  of  resistance, 
threatened  with  the  cruel  fate  of  Magdeburg,  occasioned 
the  king  suddenly  to  retire  from  before  Mentz.  Lest 
he  should  expose  himself  a  second  time  to  the  reproaches 
of  Germany,  and  the  disgrace  of  abandoning  a  confed- 
erate city  to  a  ferocious  enemy,  he  hastened  to  its  re- 
lief by  forced  marches.  On  his  arrival  at  Frankfort, 
however,  he  heard  of  its  spirited  resistance,  and  of  the 
retreat  of  Tilly,  and  lost  hot  a  moment  in  prosecuting 
his  designs  against  Mentz.  Failing  in  an  attempt  to 
cross  the  Rhine  at  Cassel,  under  the  cannon  of  the  be- 
sieged, he  directed  his  march  toward  the  Bergstrasse, 
with  a  view  of  approaching  the  town  from  an  opposite 
quarter.  Here  he  quickly  made  himself  master  of  all 
the  places  of  importance,  and  at  Stockstadt,  between 
Gernsheim  and  Oppenheim,  appeared  a  second  time 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  The  whole  of  the  Berg- 
strasse  was  abandoned  by  the  Spaniards,  who  endeav- 
ored obstinately  to  defend  the  other  bank  of  the  river. 
For  this  purpose,  they  had  burned  or  sunk  all  the  ves- 
sels in  the  neighborhood,  and  arranged  a  formidable 
force  on  the  banks,  in  case  the  king  should  attempt  the 
passage  at  that  place. 

On  this  occasion,  the  king's  impetuosity  exposed  him 
to  great  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
In  order  to  reconnoiter  the  opposite  bank,  he  crossed 
the  river  in  a  small  boat;  he  had  scarcely  landed  when 
he  was  attacked  by  a  party  of  Spanish  horse,  from  whose 
hands  he  only  saved  himself  by  a  precipitate  retreat. 
Having  at  last,  with  the  assistance  of  the  neighboring 
fishermen,  succeeded  in  procuring  a  few  transports,  he 
dispatched  two  of  them  across  the  river,  bearing  Count 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  191 


Brahe  and  three  hundred  Swedes.  Scarcely  had  this 
officer  time  to  intrench  himself  on  the  opposite  bank, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  fourteen  squadrons  of  Spanish 
dragoons  and  cuirassiers.  Superior  as  the  enemy  was  in 
number,  Count  Brahe,  with  his  small  force,  bravely  de- 
fended himself,  and  gained  time  for  the  king  to  support 
him  with  fresh  troops.  The  Spaniards  at  last  retired 
with  the  loss  of  six  hundred  men,  some  taking  refuge 
in  Oppenheim,  and  others  in  Mentz.  A  lion  of  marble 
on  a  high  pillar,  holding  a  naked  sword  in  his  paw,  and 
a  helmet  on  his  head,  was  erected  seventy  years  after 
the  event,  to  point  out  to  the  traveler  the  spot  where 
the  immortal  monarch  crossed  the  great  river  of  Ger- 
many. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  now  conveyed  his  artillery  and 
the  greater  part  of  his  troops  over  the  river,  and  laid 
siege  to  Oppenheim,  which,  after  a  brave  resistance, 
was,  on  the  8th  "December,  1631,  carried  by  storm. 
Five  hundred  Spaniards,  who  had  so  courageously  de- 
fended the  place,  fell  indiscriminately  a  sacrifice  to  the 
fury  of  the  Swedes.  The  crossing  of  the  Rhine  by 
Gustavus  struck  terror  into  the  Spaniards  and  Lor- 
rainers,  who  had  thought  themselves  protected  by  the 
river  from  the  vengeance  of  the  Swedes.  Rapid  flight 
was  now  their  only  security ;  every  place  incapable  of 
an  effectual  defense  was  immediately  abandoned.  Af- 
ter a  long  train  of  outrages  on  the  defenseless  citizens, 
the  troops  of  Lorraine  evacuated  Worms,  which,  before 
their  departure,  they  treated  with  wanton  cruelty.  The 
Spaniards  hastened  to  shut  themselves  up  in  Franken- 
thal, where  they  hoped  to  defy  the  victorious  arms  ol 
Gustavus  Adolphus. 

The  king  lost  no  time  in  prosecuting  his  designs 
against  Mentz,  into  which  the  flower  of  the  Spanish 
troops  had  thrown  themselves.  While  he  advanced  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse 
Cassel  moved  forward  on  the  other,  reducing  several 
strong  places  on  his  march.  The  besieged  Spaniards, 
though  hemmed  in  on  both  sides,  displayed  at  first  a 
bold  determination,  and  threw,  for  several  days,  a  shower 
of  bombs  into  the  Swedish  camp,  which  cost  the  king 
many  of  his  bravest  soldiers.    But  notwithstanding,  the 


Id2       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Swedes  continually  gained  ground,  and  had  at  last  ad- 
vanced so  close  to  the  ditch  that  they  prepared  seriously 
for  storming  the  place.  The  courage  of  the  besieged 
now  began  to  droop.  They  trembled  before  the  furious 
impetuosity  of  the  Swedish  soldiers,  of  which  Marien- 
berg, in  Wurtzburg,  had  afforded  so  fearful  an  example. 
The  same  dreadful  fate  awaited  Mentz,  if  taken  by 
storm ;  and  the  enemy  might  even  be  easily  tempted 
to  revenge  the  carnage  of  Magdeburg  on  this  rich  and 
magnificent  residence  of  a  Roman  Catholic  prince.  To 
save  the  town,  rather  than  their  own  lives,  the  Spanish 
garrison  capitulated  on  the  fourth  day,  and  obtained  from 
the  magnanimity  of  Gustavus  a  safe  conduct  to  Luxem- 
burg ;  the  greater  part  of  them,  however,  following 
the  example  of  many  others,  enlisted  in  the  service  of 
Sweden. 

On  the  13th  December,  1631,  the  king  made  his  entry 
into  the  conquered  town,  and  fixed  his  quarters  in  the 
palace  of  the  elector.  E  ighty  pieces  of  cannon  fell  into 
his  hands,  and  the  citizens  were  obliged  to  redeem  their 
property  from  pillage,  by  a  payment  of  eighty  thousand 
florins.  The  benefits  of  this  redemption  did  not  extend 
to  the  Jews  and  the  clergy,  who  were  obliged  to  make 
large  and  separate  contributions  for  themselves.  The 
library  of  the  elector  was  seized  by  the  king  as  his 
share,  and  presented  by  him  to  his  chancellor,  Oxen- 
stiern,  who  intended  it  for  the  Academy  of  Westerrah, 
but  the  vessel  in  which  it  was  shipped  to  Sweden  foun- 
dered at  sea. 

After  the  loss  of  Mentz,  misfortune  still  pursued  the 
Spaniards  on  the  Rhine.  Shortly  before  the  capture  of 
that  city,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  had  taken 
Falkenstein  and  Reifenburg,  and  the  fortress  of  Konig- 
stein  surrendered  to  the  Hessians.  The  rhinegrave, 
Otto  Louis,  one  of  the  king's  generals,  defeated  nine 
Spanish  squadrons,  who  were  on  their  march  for  Frank- 
enthal, and  made  himself  master  of  the  most  important 
towns  upon  the  Rhine,  from  Boppart  to  Bacharach. 
After  the  capture  of  the  fortress  of  Braunfels,  which 
was  effected  by  the  Count  of  Wetterau,  with  the  coope- 
ration of  the  Swedes,  the  Spaniards  quickly  lost  every 
place  in  Wetterau,  while  in  the  Palatinate  they  retained 


schillek's  thirty  years'  war.  193 


ft'\v  places  beside  Frankenthal.  Landau  and  Kronwei- 
senberg  openly  declared  for  the  Swedes  ;  Spires  offered 
troops  -for  the  king's  service ;  Manheim  was  gained 
through  the  prudence  of  the  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar, 
and  the  negligence  of  its  governor,  who,  for  this  miscon- 
duct, was  tried  before  the  council  of  war,  at  Heidelberg, 
and  beheaded. 

The  king  had  protracted  the  campaign  into  the  depth 
of  winter,  and  the  severity  of  the  season  was  perhaps 
one  cause  of  the  advantage  his  soldiers  gained  over  those 
of  the  enemy.  But  the  exhausted  troops  now  stood 
in  need  of  the  repose  of  winter  quarters,  which,  after 
the  surrender  of  Mentz,  Gustavus  assigned  to  them,  in 
its  neighborhood.  He  himself  employed  the  interval 
of  inactivity  in  the  field,  which  the  season  of  the  year 
enjoined,  in  arranging  with  his  chancellor,  the  affairs 
of  his  cabinet,  in  treating  for  a  neutrality  with  some  of 
his  enemies,  and  adjusting  some  political  disputes  which 
had  sprung  up  with  a  neighboring  ally.  He  chose  the 
city  of  3Ientz  for  his  winter  quarters,  and  the  settlement 
of  these  state  affairs,  and  showed  a  greater  partiality 
for  this  town,  than  seemed  consistent  with  the  interests 
of  the  German  princes,  or  the  shortness  of  his  visit  to 
the  empire.  Not  content  with  strongly  fortifying  it,  he 
erected,  at  the  opposite  angle  which  the  Maine  forms 
with  the  Rhine,  a  new  citadel,  which  was  named  Gus- 
tavusburg  from  its  founder,  but  which  is  better  known 
under  the  title  of  Pfaffenraub  or  Pfaffenzwaug.* 

While  Gustavus  Adolphus  made  himself  master  of  the 
Rhine,  and  threatened  the  three  neighboring  electorates 
with  his  victorious  arms,  his  vigilant  enemies  in  Paris 
and  St.  Germain  made  use  of  every  artifice  to  deprive 
him  of  the  support,  of  France,  and,  if  possible,  to  involve 
him  in  a  war  with  that  power.  By  his  sudden  and 
equivocal  march  to  the  Rhine  he  had  surprised  his 
friends,  and  furnished  his  enemies  with  the  means  of 
exciting  a  distrust  of  his  intentions.  After  the  conquest 
of  Wurtzburg,  and  of  the  greater  part  of  Franconia,  the 
road  into  Bavaria  and  Austria  lay  open  to  him  through 
Bamberg  and  the  Upper  Palatinate  ;  and  the  expecta- 

*  Priests'  plunder  ;  alluding  to  the  means  by  winch  the  expense 
of  its  erection  had  been  defraved. 


194       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


tion  was  as  general  as  it  was  natural,  that  he  would  not 
delay  to  attack  the  emperor  and  the  Duke  of  Bavaria 
in  the  very  center  of  their  power,  and,  by  the  reduction 
of  his  two  principal  enemies,  bring  the  war  immediately 
to  an  end.  But,  to  the  surprise  of  both  parties,  Gus- 
lavus  left  the  path  which  general  expectation  had  thus 
marked  out  for  him  ;  and  instead  of  advancing  to  the 
right,  turned  to  the  left  to  make  the  less  important  and 
more  innocent  princes  of  the  Rhine  feel  his  power, 
while  he  gave  time  to  his  more  formidable  opponents 
to  recruit  their  strength.  Nothing  but  the  paramount 
design  of  reinstating  the  unfortunate  palatine,  Freder- 
ick V.,  in  the  possession  of  his  territories,  by  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Spaniards,  could  seem  to  account  for  this 
strange  step;  and  the  belief  that  Gustavus  was  about 
to  effect  that  restoration,  silenced  for  a  while  the  sus- 
picions of  his  friends  and  the  calumnies  of  his  enemies. 
But  the  Lower  Palatinate  was  now  almost  entirely 
cleared  of  the  enemy ;  and  yet  Gustavus  continued  to 
form  new  schemes  of  conquest  on  the  Rhine,  and  to 
withhold  the  reconquered  country  from  the  palatine,  its 
rightful  owner.  In  vain  did  the  English  ambassador 
remind  him  of  what  justice  demanded,  and  what  his 
own  solemn  engagement  made  a  duty  of  honor;  Gus- 
tavus replied  to  these  demands  with  bitter  complaints 
of  the  inactivity  of  the  English  court,  and  prepared  to 
carry  his  victorious  standard  into  Alsace,  and  even  into 
Lorraine. 

A  distrust  of  the  Swedish  monarch  was  now  loud 
and  open,  while  the  malice  of  his  enemies  busily  circu- 
lated the  most  injurious  reports  as  to  his  intentions. 
Richelieu,  the  minister  of  Louis  XIII.,  had  long  wit- 
nessed with  anxiety  the  king's  progress  toward  the 
French  frontier,  and  the  suspicious  temper  of  Louis 
rendered  him  but  too  accessible  to  the  evil  surmises 
which  the  occasion  gave  rise  to.  France  was  at  this 
time  involved  in  a  civil  war  with  her  Protestant  subjects, 
and  the  fear  was  not  altogether  groundless,  that  the  ap- 
proach of  a  victorious  monarch  of  their  party  might 
revive  their  drooping  spirit,  and  encourage  them  to  a 
more  desperate  resistance.  This  might  be  the  case, 
e  2n  if  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  far  from  showing  a  dis- 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  195 

position  to  encourage  them,  or  to  act  unfaithfully  toward 
his  ally,  the  King  of  France.  But  the  vindictive  Bishop 
of  Wurtzburg,  who  was  anxious  to  avenge  the  loss  of 
his  dominions,  by  the  envenomed  rhetoric  of  the  Jesuits 
and  the  active  zeal  of  the  Bavarian  minister,  represented 
this  dreaded  alliance  between  the  Huguenots  and  the 
Swedes  as  an  undoubted  fact,  and  filled  the  timid  mind 
of  Louis  with  the  most  alarming  fears.  Not  merely 
chimerical  politicians,  but  many  of  the  best  informed 
Roman  Catholics  fully  believed  that  the  king  was  on 
the  point  of  breaking  into  the  heart  of  France,  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  Huguenots,  and  to  overturn 
the  Catholic  religion  within  the  kingdom.  Fanatical 
zealots  already  saw  him,  with  his  army,  crossing  the 
Alps  and  dethroning  the  Vicegerent  of  Christ  in  Italy. 
Such  reports  no  doubt  soon  refute  themselves  ;  yet  it 
can  not  be  denied  that  Gustavus,  by  his  manoeuvers  on 
the  Rhine,  gave  a  dangerous  handle  to  the  malice  of  his 
enemies,  and  in  some  measure  justified  the  suspicion 
that  he  directed  his  arms  not  so  much  against  the  em- 
peror and  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  as  against  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  itself. 

The  general  clamor  of  discontent  which  the  Jesuits 
raised  in  all  the  Catholic  courts,  against  the  alliance  be- 
tween France  and  the  enemy  of  the  Church,  at  last 
compelled  Cardinal  Richelieu  to  take  a  decisive  step  for 
the  security  of  his  religion,  and  at  once  to  convince  the 
Roman  Catholic  world  of  the  zeal  of  France,  and  of  the 
selfish  policy  of  the  ecclesiastical  states  of  Germany. 
Convinced  that  the  views  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  like 
his  own,  aimed  solely  at  the  humiliation  of  the  power 
of  Austria,  he  hesitated  not  to  promise  to  the  princes  of 
the  League,  on  the  part  of  Sweden,  a  complete  neu- 
trality, immediately  they  abandoned  their  alliance  with 
the  emperor  and  withdrew  their  troops.  Whatever  the 
resolution  these  princes  should  adopt,  Richelieu  would 
equally  attain  his  object.  By  their  separation  from  the 
Austrian  interest,  Ferdinand  would  be  exposed  to  the 
combined  attack  of  France  and  Sweden  ;  and  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  freed  from  his  other  enemies  in  Germany, 
would  be  able  to  direct  his  undivided  force  against  the 
hereditary  dominions  of  Austria.    In  that  event,  the  fall 


196 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


of  Austria  was  inevitable,  and  this  great  object  of  Riche- 
lieu's policy  would  be  gained  without  injury  to  the 
Church.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  princes  of  the 
League  persisted  in  their  opposition,  and  adhered  to 
the  Austrian  alliance,  the  result  would  indeed  be  more 
doubtful,  but  still  France  would  have  sufficiently  proved 
to  all  Europe  the  sincerity  of  her  attachment  to  the 
Catholic  cause,  and  performed  her  duty  as  a  member  of 
the  Roman  Church.  The  princes  of  the  League  would 
then  appear  the  sole  authors  of  those  evils,  which  the 
continuance  of  the  war  would  unavoidably  bring  upon 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  Germany  ;  they  alone,  by  their 
willful  and  obstinate  adherence  to  the  emperor,  would 
frustrate  the  measures  employed  for  their  protection, 
involve  the  Church  in  danger,  and  themselves  in  ruin. 

Richelieu  pursued  this  plan  with  greater  zeal,  the 
more  he  was  embarrassed  by  the  repeated  demands  of 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria  for  assistance  from  France  ;  for 
this  prince,  as  already  stated,  when  he  first  began  to 
entertain  suspicions  of  the  emperor,  entered  immediately 
into  a  secret  alliance  with  France,  by  which,  in  the  event 
of  any  change  in  the  emperor's  sentiments,  he  hoped  to 
secure  the  possession  of  the  Palatinate.  But  though  the 
origin  of  the  treaty  clearly  showed  against  what  enemy 
it  was  directed,  Maximilian  now  thought  proper  to  make 
use  of  it  against  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  demand  from  France  that  assistance  against  her 
ally,  which  she  had  simply  promised  against  Austria. 
Richelieu,  embarrassed  by  this  conflicting  alliance  with 
two  hostile  powers,  had  no  resource  left  but  to  endeavor 
to  put  a  speedy  termination  to  their  hostilities ;  and  as 
little  inclined  to  sacrifice  Bavaria,  as  he  was  disabled,  by 
his  treaty  with  Sweden,  from  assisting  it,  he  set  him- 
self, with  all  diligence,  to  bring  about  a  neutrality,  as  the 
only  means  of  fulfilling  his  obligations  to  both.  For  this 
purpose,  the  Marquis  of  Breze  was  sent,  as  his  pleni- 
potentiary, to  the  King  of  Sweden  at  Mentz,  to  learn 
his  sentiments  on  this  point,  and  to  procure  from  him 
favorable  conditions  for  the  allied  princes.  But  if  Louis 
XIII.  had  powerful  motives  for  wishing  for  this  neutral- 
ity, Gustavus  Adolphus  had  as  grave  reasons  for  desiring 
the  contrary.    Convinced  by  numerous  proofs  that  the 


schiller's  tiltrtv  yf.ars*  war. 


hatred  of  the  princes  of  the  League  to  the  Protestant 
religion  was  invincible,  their  aversion  to  the  foreign 
power  of  the  Swedes  inextinguishable,  and  their  attach- 
ment to  the  House  of  Austria  irrevocable,  he  appre- 
hended less  danger  from  their  open  hostility,  than  from 
a  neutrality  which  was  so  little  in  unison  with  their  real 
inclinations  ;  and,  moreover,  as  he  was  constrained  to 
carry  on  the  war  in  Germany  at  the  expense  of  the 
enemy,  he  manifestly  sustained  great  loss  if  he  dimin- 
ished their  number  without  increasing  that  of  his  friends. 
It  was  not  surprising,  therefore,  if  Gustavus  evinced 
little  inclination  to  purchase  the  neutrality  of  the  League, 
by  which  he  was  likely  to  gain  so  little,  at  the  expense 
of  the  advantages  he  had  already  obtained- 

The  conditions,  accordingly,  upon  which  he  offered 
to  adopt  the  neutrality  toward  Bavaria  were  severe, 
and  suited  to  these  views.  He  required  of  the  whole 
League  a  full  and  entire  cessation  from  all  hostilities  :  the 
recall  of  their  troops  from  the  imperial  army,  from  the 
conquered  towns,  and  from  all  the  Protestant  countries  ; 
the  reduction  of  their  military  force  ;  the  exclusion  of 
the  imperial  armies  from  their  territories,  and  from 
supplies  either  of  men,  provisions,  or  ammunition.  Hard 
as  the  conditions  were,  which  the  victor  thus  imposed 
upon  the  vanquished,  the  French  mediator  flattered 
himself  he  should  be  able  to  induce  the  Elector  of  Ba- 
varia to  accept  them.  In  order  to  give  time  for  an  accom- 
modation, Gustavus  had  agreed  to  a  cessation  of  hostilies 
for  a  fortnight.  But  at  the  very  time  when  this  mon- 
arch was  receiving  fron  the  French  agents  repeated  as- 
surances of  the  favorable  progress  of  the  negotiation,  an 
intercepted  letter  from  the  elector  to  Pappenheim,  the 
imperial  general  in  Westphalia,  revealed  the  perfidy  of 
that  prince,  as  having  no  other  object  in  view  by  the 
whole  negotiation,  than  to  gain  time  for  his  measures 
of  defense.  Far  from  intending  to  fetter  his  military 
operations  by  a  truce  with  Sweden,  the  artful  prince 
hastened  his  preparations,  and  employed  the  leisure 
which  his  enemy  afforded  him,  in  making  the  most 
active  dispositions  for  resistance.  The  negotiation  ac- 
cordingly failed,  and  served  only  to  increase  the  animos- 
ity of  the  Bavarians  and  the  Swedes. 

r  9 


198       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Tilly's  augmented  force,  with  which  he  threatened 
to  overrun  Franconia,  urgently  required  the  king's  pres- 
ence in  that  circle  ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  expel  pre- 
viously the  Spaniards  from  the  Rhine,  and  to  cut  off 
their  means  of  invading  Germany  from  the  Netherlands. 
With  this  view,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  made  an  offer 
of  neutrality  to  the  Elector  of  Treves,  Philip  von  Zeltern, 
on  condition  that  the  fortress  of  Hermanstein  should  be 
delivered  up  to  him,  and  a  free  passage  granted  to  his 
troops  through  Coblentz.  But  unwillingly  as  the  elector 
had  beheld  the  Spaniards  within  his  territories,  he  was 
still  less  disposed  to  commit  his  estates  to  the  suspicious 
protection  of  a  heretic,  and  to  make  the  Swedish  con- 
queror master  of  his  destinies.  Too  weak  to  maintain 
his  independence  between  two  such  powerful  competi 
tors,  he  took  refuge  in  the  protection  of  France.  With 
his  usual  prudence,  Richelieu  profited  by  the  embarrass- 
ments of  this  prince  to  augment  the  power  of  France, 
and  to  gain  for  her  an  important  ally  on  the  German 
frontier.  A  numerous  French  army  was  dispatched  to 
protect  the  territory  of  Treves,  and  a  French  garrison 
was  received  into  Ehrenbreitstein.  But  the  object 
which  had  moved  the  elector  to  this  bold  step  was  not 
completely  gained,  for  the  offended  pride  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  was  not  appeased,  till  he  had  obtained  a  free 
passage  for  his  troops  through  Treves. 

Pending  these  negotiations  with  Treves  and  France, 
the  king's  generals  had  entirely  cleared  the  territory  of 
Mentz  of  the  Spanish  garrisons,  and  Gustavus  himself 
completed  the  conquest  of  this  district  by  the  capture 
of  Kreutznach.  To  protect  these  conquests,  the  chan- 
cellor Oxenstiern  was  left  with  a  division  of  the  army 
upon  the  Middle  Rhine,  while  the  main  body,  under 
the  king  himself,  began  its  march  against  the  enemy  in 
Franconia. 

The  possession  of  this  circle  had,  in  the  mean  time, 
been  disputed  with  variable  success,  between  Count 
Tilly  and  the  Swedish  general,  Horn,  whom  Gustavus 
had  left  there  with  eight  thousand  men  ;  and  the  bish- 
opric of  Bamberg,  in  particular,  was  at  once  the  prize 
and  the  scene  of  their  struggle.  Called  away  to  the 
Rhine  by  his  other  projects,  the  king  had  left  to  his 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  11)0 

general  the  chastisement  of  the  bishop,  whose  perfidy 
had  excited  his  indignation,  and  the  activity  of  Horn 
justified  the  choice.  In  a  short  time,  he  subdued  the 
greater  part  of  the  bishopric ;  and  the  capital  itself, 
abandoned  by  its  imperial  garrison,  was  carried  by  storm. 
The  banished  bishop  urgently  demanded  assistance  from 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  who  was  at  length  persuaded  to 
put  an  end  to  Tilly's  inactivity.  Fully  empowered  by 
his  master's  order  to  restore  the  bishop  to  his  posses- 
sions, this  general  collected  his  troops,  who  were  scat- 
tered over  the  Upper  Palatinate,  and  with  an  army  of 
twenty  thousand  men  advanced  upon  Bamberg.  Firmly 
resolved  to  maintain  his  conquest  even  against  this  over- 
whelming force,  Horn  awaited  the  enemy  within  the 
walls  of  Bamberg ;  but  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  van- 
guard of  Tilly  what  he  had  thought  to  be  able  to  dispute 
with  his  whole  army.  A  panic  which  suddenly  seized 
his  troops,  and  which  no  presence  of  mind  of  their  gen- 
eral could  check,  opened  the  gates  to  the  enemy,  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  the  troops,  baggage,  and  artillery, 
were  saved.  The  reconquest  of  Bamberg  was  the  fruit 
of  this  victory ;  but  Tilly,  with  all  his  activity,  was  un- 
able to  overtake  the  Swedish  general,  who  retired  in 
good  order  behind  the  Maine.  The  king's  appearance 
in  Franconia,  and  his  junction  with  Gustavus  Horn  at 
Kitzengen,  put  a  stop  to  Tilly's  conquests,  and  compelled 
him  to  provide  for  his  own  safety  by  a  rapid  retreat. 

The  king  made  a  general  review  of  his  troops  at 
Aschaffenburg.  After  his  junction  with  Gustavus  Horn, 
Banner,  and  Duke  William  of  Weimar,  they  amounted 
to  nearly  forty  thousand  men.  His  progress  through 
Franconia  was  uninterrupted ;  for  Tilly,  far  too  weak 
to  encounter  an  enemy  so  superior  in  numbers,  had  re- 
treated, by  rapid  marches,  toward  the  Danube.  Bohe- 
mia and  Bavaria  were  now  equally  near  to  the  king,  and, 
uncertain  whither  his  victorious  course  might  be  di- 
rected, Maximilian  could  form  no  immediate  resolution. 
The  choice  of  the  king,  and  the  fate  of  both  provinces, 
now  depended  on  the  road  that  should  be  left  open  to 
Count  Tilly.  It  was  dangerous,  during  the  approach  of 
so  formidable  an  enemy,  to  leave  Bavaria  undefended, 
in  order  to  protect  Austria;  still  more  dangerous,  by 


^ÜO  HCHlLLCii  tJ   TUIUTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


receiving  Tilly  into  Bavaria,  to  draw  thither  the  enemy 
also,  and  to  render  it  the  seat  of  a  destructive  war. 
The  cares  of  the  sovereign  finally  overcame  the  scruples 
of  the  statesman,  and  Tilly  received  orders,  at  all  hazards, 
to  cover  the  frontiers  of  Bavaria  with  hi.  army. 

Nuremberg  received  with  triumphant  joy  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Protestant  religion  and  German  freedom, 
and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  citizens  expressed  itself  on 
his  arrival  in  loud  transports  of  admiration  and  joy. 
Even  Gustavus  could  not  contain  his  astonishment,  to 
see  himself  in  this  city,  which  was  the  very  center  of 
Germany,  where  he  had  never  expected  to  be  able  to 
penetrate.  The  noble  appearance  of  his  person,  com 
pleted  the  impression  produced  by  his  glorious  exploits, 
and  the  condescension  with  which  he  received  the  con- 
gratulations of  this  free  city  won  all  hearts.  He  now 
confirmed  the  alliance  he  had  concluded  with  it  on  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic,  and  excited  the  citizens  to  zealous 
activity  and  fraternal  unity  against  the  common  enemy. 
After  a  short  stay  in  Nuremberg,  he  followed  his  army 
to  the  Danube,  and  appeared  unexpectedly  before  the 
frontier  town  of  Donauwerth.  A  numerous  Bavarian 
garrison  defended  the  place ;  and  their  commander, 
Rodolph  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Saxe-Lai.  3nburg,  showed 
at  first  a  resolute  determination  to  defend  it  till  the  ar- 
rival of  Tilly.  But  the  vigor  with  which  Gustavus 
Adolphus  prosecuted  the  siege,  soon  compelled  him  to 
take  measures  for  a  speedy  and  secure  retreat,  which, 
amid  a  tremendous  fire  from  the  Swedish  artillery,  he 
successfully  executed. 

The  conquest  of  Donauwerth  opened  to  the  king  the 
farther  side  of  the  Danube,  and  now  the  small  river 
Lech  alone  separated  him  from  Bavaria.  The  imme- 
diate danger  of  his  dominions  aroused  all  Maximilian's 
activity;  and  however  little  he  had  hitherto  disturbed 
the  enemy's  progress  to  his  frontier,  he  now  determined 
to  dispute  as  resolutely  the  remainder  of  their  course. 
On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Lech,  near  the  small  town 
of  Rain,  Tilly  occupied  a  strongly  fortified  camp,  which, 
surrounded  by  three  rivers,  bade  defiance  to  all  attack. 
All  the  bridges  over  the  Lech  were  destroyed  ;  the 
whole  course  of  the  stream  protected  by  strong  garri- 


£€HILLER*S   THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


201 


sons  as  far  as  Augsburg ;  and  that  town  itself,  which 
had  long  betrayed  its  impatience  to  follow  the  example 
of  Nuremberg  and  Frankfort,  secured  by  a  Bavarian 
garrison,  and  the  disarming  of  its  inhabitants.  The 
elector  himself,  with  all  the  troops  he  could  collect, 
threw  himself  into  Tilly's  camp,  as  if  all  his  hopes  cen- 
tred on  this  single  point,  and  here  the  good  fortune  of 
the  Swedes  was  to  suffer  shipwreck  forever. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  after  subduing  the  whole  territory 
of  Augsburg,  on  his  own  side  of  the  river,  and  opening 
to  his  troops  a  rich  supply  of  necessaries  from  that 
quarter,  soon  appeared  on  the  bank  opposite  the  Bava- 
rian intrenchments.  It  was  now  the  month  of  March, 
when  the  river,  swollen  by  frequent  rains,  and  the  melt- 
ing of  the  snow  from  the  mountains  of  the  Tyrol,  flowed 
full  and  rapid  between  its  steep  banks.  Its  boiling  cur- 
rent threatened  the  rash  assailants  with  certain  destruc- 
tion, while  from  the  opposite  side  the  enemy's  cannon 
showed  their  murderous  mouths.  If,  in  despite  of  the 
fury  both  of  fire  and  water,  they  should  accomplish  this 
almost  impossible  passage,  a  fresh  and  vigorous  enemy 
awaited  the  exhausted  troops  in  an  impregnable  camp ; 
and  when  they  needed  repose  and  refreshment  they 
must  prepare  for  battle.  With  exhausted  powers  they 
must  ascend  the  hostile  intrenchments,  whose  strength 
seemed  to  bid  defiance  to  every  assault.  A  defeat  sus 
tained  upon  this  shore  would  be  attended  with  inevitable 
destruction,  since  the  same  stream  which  impeded  their 
advance  would  also  cut  off  their  retreat,  if  fortune  should 
abandon  them. 

The  Swedish  council  of  war,  which  the  king  now  as 
sembled,  strongly  urged  upon  him  all  these  considera 
tions,  in  order  to  deter  him  from  this  dangerous  under- 
taking. The  most  intrepid  were  appalled,  and  a  troop 
of  honorable  warriors,  who  had  grown  gray  in  the  field, 
did  not  hesitate  to  express  their  alarm.  But  the  king's 
resolution  was  fixed.  "What!"  said  he  to  Gustavus 
Horn,  who  spoke  for  the  rest,  "have  we  crossed  the 
Baltic,  and  so  many  great  rivers  of  Germany,  and  shall 
we  now  be  checked  by  a  brook  like  the  Lech  ?"  Gus- 
tavus had  already,  at  great  personal  risk,  reconnoitred 
the  whole  country,  and  discovered  that  his  own  side  of 


202      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  river  was  higher  than  the  other,  and  consequently 
gave  a  considerable  advantage  to  the  fire  of  the  Swedish 
artillery  over  that  of  the  enemy.  With  great  presence 
of  mind  he  determined  to  profit  by  this  circumstance. 
At  the  point  where  the  left  bank  of  the  Lech  forms  an 
angle  with  the  right,  he  immediately  caused  three  bat- 
teries to  be  erected,  from  which  seventy-two  field-pieces 
maintained  a  cross  fire  upon  the  enemy.  While  this 
tremendous  cannonade  drove  the  Bavarians  from  the 
opposite  bank,  he  caused  to  be  erected  a  bridge  over  the 
river  with  all  possible  rapidity.  A  thick  smoke,  kept  up 
by  burning  wood  and  wet  straw,  concealed  for  some 
time  the  progress  of  the  work  from  the  enemy,  while 
the  continued  thunder  of  the  cannon  overpowered  the 
noise  of  the  axes.  He  kept  alive  by  his  own  example 
the  courage  of  his  troops,  and  discharged  more  than 
sixty  cannon  with  his  own  hand.  The  cannonade  was 
returned  by  the  Bavarians  with  equal  vivacity  for  two 
hours,  though  with  less  effect,  as  the  Swedish  batteries 
swept  the  lower  opposite  bank,  while  their  height  served 
as  a  breast-work  to  their  own  troops.  In  vain,  there- 
fore, did  the  Bavarians  attempt  to  destroy  these  works  ; 
the  superior  fire  of  the  Swedes  threw  them  into  dis- 
order, and  the  bridge  was  completed  under  their  veiy 
eyes.  On  this  dreadful  day,  Tilly  did  every  thing  in  his 
power  to  encourage  his  troops ;  and  no  danger  could 
drive  him  from  the  bank.  At  length  he  found  the 
death  which  he  sought,  a  cannon  ball  shattered  his  leg ; 
and  Altringer,  his  brave  companion-in-arms,  was,  soon 
after,  dangerously  wounded  in  the  head.  Deprived  of 
the  animating  presence  of  their  two  generals,  the  Bava 
rians  gave  way  at  last,  and  Maximilian,  in  spite  of  his  own 
judgment,  was  driven  to  adopt  a  pusillanimous  resolve 
Overcome  by  the  persuasions  of  the  dying  Tilly,  whose 
wonted  firmness  was  overpowered  by  the  near  approach 
of  death,  he  gave  up  his  impregnable  position  for  lost , 
and  the  discovery  by  the  Swedes  of  a  ford,  by  which 
their  cavalry  were  on  the  point  of  passing,  accelerated 
his  inglorious  retreat.  The  same  night,  before  a  single 
soldier  of  the  enemy  had  crossed  the  Lech,  he  broke  up 
his  camp,  and,  without  giving  time  for  the  king  to  harass 
him  in  his  march,  retreated  in  good  order  to  Neuburg 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  203 


and  Ingolstadt.  With  astonishment  did  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  who  completed  the  passage  of  the  river  on  the 
following  day,  behold  the  hostile  camp  abandoned :  and 
the  elector's  flight  surprised  him  still  more,  when  he  saw 
the  strength  of  the  position  he  had  quitted.  "Had  I  been 
the  Bavarian,"  said  he,  "though  a  cannon  ball  had  car- 
ried away  my  beard  and  chin,  never  would  I  have  aban- 
doned a  position  like  this,  and  laid  open  my  territory  to 
my  enemies." 

Bavaria  now  lay  exposed  to  the  conqueror;  and,  for 
the  first  time,  the  tide  of  war,  which  had  hitherto  only 
beat  against  its  frontier,  now  flowed  over  its  long  spared 
and  fertile  fields.  Before,  however,  the  king  proceeded 
to  the  conquest  of  these  provinces,  he  delivered  the  town 
of  Augsburg  from  the  yoke  of  Bavaria ;  exacted  an  oath 
of  alligiance  from  the  citizens ;  and,  to  secure  its  observ- 
ance, left  a  garrison  in  the  town.  He  then  advanced, 
by  rapid  marches,  against  Ingolstadt,  in  order,  by  the 
capture  of  this  important  fortress,  which  the  elector 
covered  with  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  to  secure  his 
conquest  in  Bavaria,  and  obtain  a  firm  footing  on  the 
Danube. 

Shortly  after  the  appearance  of  the  Swedish  king  be- 
fore Ingolstadt,  the  wounded  Tilly,  after  experiencing 
the  caprice  of  unstable  fortune,  terminated  his  career 
within  the  walls  of  that  town.  Conquered  by  the  supe- 
rior generalship  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  he  lost,  at  the 
close  of  his  days,  all  the  laurels  of  his  earlier  victories, 
and  appeased,  by  a  series  of  misfortunes,  the  demands 
of  justice,  and  the  avenging  manes  of  Magdeburg.  In 
his  death,  the  imperial  army  and  that  of  the  League 
sustained  an  irreparable  loss ;  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion was  deprived  of  its  most  zealous  defender,  and 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria  of  the  most  faithful  of  his  serv- 
ants, who  sealed  his  fidelity  by  his  death,  and  even  in 
his  dying  moments  fulfilled  the  duties  of  a  general.  His 
last  message  to  the  elector  was  an  urgent  advice  to  take 
possession  of  Ratisbon,  in  order  to  maintain  the  command 
of  the  Danube,  and  to  keep  open  the  communication  with 
Bohemia. 

With  the  confidence  which  was  the  natural  fruit  of 
bo  many  victories,  Gustavus  AdoJpb.ua  commenced  the 


SCHILLEr's?   THIRTY"  YEARS*  WAR. 


siege  of  Ingolstadt,  hoping  to  gain  the  town  by  the  fur} 
of  his  first  assault.  But  the  strength  of  its  fortifications, 
aud  the  bravery  of  its  garrison,  presented  obstacles 
greater  than  any  he  had  had  to  encounter  since  the 
battle  of  Breitenfeld,  and  the  walls  of  Ingolstadt  were 
near  putting  an  end  to  his  career.  While  reconnoitring 
the  works,  a  twenty -four-pounder  killed  his  horse  under 
him,  and  he  fell  to  the  ground,  while  almost  immediately 
afterward  another  ball  struck  his  favorite,  the  young 
Margrave  of  Baden,  by  his  side.  With  perfect  self- 
possession  the  king  rose,  and  quieted  the  fears  of  his 
troops  by  immediately  mounting  another. 

The  occupation  of  Ratisbon  by  the  Bavarians,  who, 
by  the  advice  of  Tilly,  had  surprised  this  town  by  strat- 
agem, and  placed  in  it  a  strong  garrison,  quickly  changed 
the  king's  plan  of  opei-ations.  He  had  flattered  himself 
with  the  hope  of  gaining  this  town,  which  favored  the 
Protestant  cause,  and  to  find  in  it  an  ally  as  devoted  to 
him  as  Nuremberg,  Augsburg,  and  Frankfort.  Its  seiz- 
ure by  the  Bavarians  seemed  to  postpone  for  a  long  time 
the  fulfillment  of  his  favorite  project  of  making  himself 
master  of  the  Danube,  and  cutting  off  his  adversaries' 
supplies  from  Bohemia.  He  suddenly  raised  the  siege 
of  Ingoldstadt,  before  which  he  had  wasted  both  his  time 
and  his  troops,  and  penetrated  into  the  interior  of  Bava- 
ria, in  order  to  draw  the  elector  into  that  quarter  for  the 
defense  of  his  territories,  and  thus  to  strip  the  Danube 
of  its  defenders. 

The  whole  country,  as  far  as  Munich,  now  lay  open 
to  the  conqueror.  Mosburg,  Landshut,  and  the  whole 
territory  of  Freysinger,  submitted;  nothing  could  resist 
his  arms.  But  if  he  met  with  no  regular  force  to  oppose 
his  progress,  he  had  to  contend  against  a  still  more  im- 
placable enemy  in  the  heart  of  eveiy  Bavarian — religious 
fanaticism.  Soldiers,  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Pope, 
were,  in  this  country,  a  new  and  unheard-of  phenome- 
non ;  the  blind  zeal  of  the  priests  represented  them  to 
the  peasantry  as  monsters,  the  children  of  hell,  and  their 
leader  as  Antichrist.  No  wonder,  then,  if  they  thought 
themselves  released  from  all  the  ties  of  nature  and 
humanity  toward  this  brood  of  Satan,  and  justified  in 
committing  the  most  savage  atrocities  upon  them.  Woe 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  205 


to  the  Swedish  soldier  who  fell  into  their  hands  !  All 
the  torments  which  inventive  malice  could  devise  were 
exercised  upon  these  unhappy  victims  ;  and  the  sight  of 
their  mangled  bodies  exasperated  the  army  to  a  fearful 
retaliation.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  alone,  sullied  the  luster 
of  his  heroic  character  by  no  act  of  revenge  ;  and  the 
aversion  which  the  Bavarians  felt  toward  his  religion, 
far  from  making  him  depart  from  the  obligations  of  hu- 
manity toward  that  unfortunate  people,  seemed  to  im- 
pose upon  him  the  stricter  duty  to  honor  his  religion  by 
a  more  constant  clemency. 

The  approach  of  the  king  spread  terror  and  conster 
nation  in  the  capital,  which,  stripped  of  its  defenders, 
and  abandoned  by  its  principal  inhabitants,  placed  all  its 
hopes  in  the  magnanimity  of  the  conqueror.  By  an  un- 
conditional and  voluntary  surrender,  it  hoped  to  disarm 
his  vengeance ;  and  sent  deputies,  even  to  Frankfort,  to 
lay  at  his  feet  the  keys  of  the  city.  Strongly  as  the  king 
might  have  been  tempted  by  the  inhumanity  of  the  Ba- 
varians, and  the  hostility  of  their  sovereign,  to  make  a 
dreadful  use  of  the  rights  of  victory  ;  pressed,  as  he  was, 
by  Germans,  to  avenge  the  fate  of  Magdeburg  on  the 
capital  of  its  destroyer,  this  great  prince  scorned  this 
mean  revenge  ;  and  the  very  helplessness  of  his  enemies 
disarmed  his  severity.  Contented  with  the  more  noble 
triumph  of  conducting  the  Palatine  Frederick,  with  the 
pomp  of  a  victor,  into  the  very  palace  of  the  prince  who 
had  been  the  chief  instrument  of  his  ruin,  and  the 
usurper  of  his  territories,  he  heightened  the  brilliancy 
of  his  triumphal  entry  by  the  brighter  splendor  of  mod- 
eration and  clemency. 

The  king  found  in  Munich  only  a  forsaken  palace,  for 
the  elector's  treasures  had  been  transported  to  Werfen. 
The  magnificence  of  the  building  astonished  him ;  and 
he  asked  the  guide,  who  showed  the  apartments,  who 
was  the  architect.  "No  other,"  replied  he,  "than  the 
elector  himself."  "  I  wish,"  said  the  king,  "  I  had  this 
architect  to  send  to  Stockholm."  "  That,"  he  was  an- 
swered, "  the  architect  will  take  care  to  prevent."  When 
the  arsenal  was  examined,  they  found  nothing  but  car- 
riages, stripped  of  their  cannon.  The  latter  had  been 
so  artfully  concealed  under  the  floor,  that  no  traces  of 
<3 


206      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


them  remained  ;  and,  but  for  the  treachery  of  a  work- 
man, the  deceit  would  not  "have  been  detected.  "Rise 
up  from  the  dead,"  said  the  king,  u  and  come  to  judg- 
ment." The  floor  was  pulled  up,  and  one  hundred  and 
forty  pieces  of  cannon  discovered,  some  of  extraordinary 
caliber,  which  had  been  principally  taken  in  the  Palati- 
nate and  Bohemia.  A  treasure  of  thirty  thousand  gold 
ducats,  concealed  in  one  of  the  largest,  completed  the 
pleasure  which  the  king  received  from  this  valuable  ac- 
quisition. 

A  far  more  welcome  spectacle  still  would  have  been 
the  Bavarian  army  itself ;  for  his  march  into  the  heart 
of  Bavaria  had  been  undertaken  chiefly  with  the  view  of 
luring  them  from  their  intrenchments.  In  this  expecta- 
tion he  was  disappointed.  No  enemy  appeared  ;  no  en- 
treaties, however  urgent,  on  the  part  of  his  subjects, 
could  induce  the  elector  to  risk  the  remainder  of  his 
army  to  the  chances  of  a  battle.  Shut  up  in  Ratisbon, 
he  awaited  the  reinforcements  which  Wallenstein  was 
bringing  from  Bohemia ;  and  endeavored,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  amuse  his  enemy  and  keep  him  inactive,  by  re- 
viving the  negotiation  for  a  neutrality.  But  the  king's 
distrust,  too  often  and  too  justly  excited  by  his  previous 
conduct,  frustrated  this  design ;  and  the  intentional  de 
lay  of  Wallenstein  abandoned  Bavaria  to  the  Swedes. 

Thus  far  had  Gustavus  advanced  from  victory  to  vic- 
tory, without  meeting  with  an  enemy  able  to  cope  with 
him.  A  part  of  Bavaria  and  Suabia,  the  bishoprics  of 
Franconia,  the  Lower  Palatinate,  and  the  archbishopric 
of  Mentz,  lay  conquered  in  his  rear.  An  uninterrupted 
career  of  conquest  had  conducted  him  to  the  threshold 
of  Austria;  and  the  most  brilliant  success  had  fully  jus- 
tified the  plan  of  operations  which  he  had  formed  after 
the  battle  of  Breitenfeld.  If  he  had  not  succeeded  to 
his  wish  in  promoting  a  confederacy  among  the  Protes- 
tant states,  he  had,  at  least,  disarmed  or  weakened  the 
League,  earned  on  the  war  chiefly  at  its  expense,  les- 
sened the  emperor's  resources,  emboldened  the  weaker 
states,  and  while  he  laid  under  contribution  the  allies  of 
the  emperor,  forced  a  way  through  their  territories  into 
Austria  itself.  Where  arms  were  unavailing,  the  great- 
est service  was  rendered  by  the  friendship  of  the  free 


sciiiller'ö  thirty  years'  war.  207 


cities,  whose  affections  he  had  gained,  by  the  double  ties 
of  policy  and  religion ;  and,  as  long  as  he  should  main- 
tain his  superiority  in  the  field,  he  might  reckon  on  every 
thing  from  their  zeal.  By  his  conquests  on  the  Rhine, 
the  Spaniards  were  cut  otf  from  the  Lower  Palatinate, 
even  if  the  state  of  the  war  in  the  Netherlands  left  them 
at  liberty  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  Germany.  The 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  too,  after  his  unfortunate  campaign, 
had  been  glad  to  adopt  a  neutrality.  Even  the  numerous 
garrisons  he  had  left  behind  him,  in  his  progress  through 
Germany,  had  not  diminished  his  army  ;  and,  fresh  and 
vigorous  as  when  he  first  began  his  march,  he  now  stood 
in  the  center  of  Bavaria,  determined  and  prepared  to 
cany  the  war  into  the  heart  of  Austria. 

While  Gustavus  Adolphus  thus  maintained  his  supe- 
riority within  the  empire,  fortune,  in  another  quarter, 
had  been  no  less  favorable  to  his  ally,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony.  By  the  arrangement  concerted  between  these 
princes  at  Halle,  after  the  battle  of  Leipzig,  the  conquest 
of  Bohemia  was  intrusted  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  while 
the  king  reserved  for  himself  the  attack  upon  the  terri- 
tories of  the  League.  The  first  fruits  which  the  elector 
reaped  from  the  battle  of  Breitenfeld,  was  the  recon- 
quest  of  Leipzig,  which  was  shortly  followed  by  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Austrian  garrisons  from  the  entire  circle. 
Reinforced  by  the  troops  who  deserted  to  him  from  the 
hostile  garrisons,  the  Saxon  general,  Arnheim,  marched 
toward  Lusatia,  which  had  been  overrun  by  an  imperial 
general,  Rudolph  von  Tiefenbach,  in  order  to  chastise 
the  elector  for  embracing  the  cause  of  the  enemy.  He 
had  already  commenced,  in  this  weakly  defended  prov- 
ince, the  usual  course  of  devastation,  taken  several 
towns,  and  terrified  Dresden  itself  by  his  approach,  when 
his  destructive  progress  was  suddenly  stopped,  by  an 
express  mandate  from  the  emperor,  to  spare  the  posses- 
sions of  the  King  of  Saxony. 

Ferdinand  had  perceived,  too  late,  the  errors  of  that 
policy,  which  reduced  the  Elector  of  Saxony  to  extrem- 
ities, and  forcibly  driven  this  powerful  monarch  into  an 
alliance  with  Sweden.  By  moderation,  equally  ill-timed, 
he  now  wished  to  repair,  if  possible,  the  consequences  of 
his  haughtiness ;  and  thus  committed  a  second  error  in 


208       schillere  thirty  years'  war. 


endeavoring  to  repair  the  first.  To  deprive  his  enemy 
of  so  powerful  an  ally,  he  had  opened,  through  the  inter- 
vention of  Spain,  a  negotiation  with  the  elector  ;  and,  in 
order  to  facilitate  an  accommodation,  Tiefenbach  was 
ordered  immediately  to  retire  from  Saxony.  But  these 
concessions  of  the  emperor,  far  from  producing  the  de- 
sired effect,  only  revealed  to  the  elector  the  embarrass- 
ment of  his  adversary  and  his  own  importance,  and  em- 
boldened him  the  more  to  prosecute  the  advantages  he 
had  already  obtained.  How  could  he,  moreover,  with- 
out becoming  chargeable  with  the  most  shameful  ingrati- 
tude, abandon  an  ally  to  whom  he  had  given  the  most 
solemn  assurances  of  fidelity,  and  to  whom  he  was 
indebted  for  the  preservation  of  his  dominions,  and  even 
of  his  electoral  dignity  ? 

The  Saxon  army,  now  relieved  from  the  necessity  of 
marching  into  Lusatia,  advanced  toward  Bohemia,  where 
a  combination  of  favorable  circumstances  seemed  to 
insure  them  an  easy  victory.  In  this  kingdom,  the  first 
scene  of  this  fatal  war,  the  flames  of  dissension  still 
smoldered  beneath  the  ashes,  while  the  discontent  of 
the  inhabitants  was  fomented  by  daily  acts  of  oppression 
and  tyranny.  On  every  side,  this  unfortunate  country 
showed  signs  of  a  mournful  change.  Whole  districts 
had  changed  their  proprietors,  and  groaned  under  the 
hated  yoke  of  Roman  Catholic  masters,  whom  the  favor 
of  the  emperor  and  the  Jesuits  had  enriched  with  the 
plunder  and  possessions  of  the  exiled  Protestants. 
Others,  taking  advantage  themselves  of  the  general  dis- 
tress, had  purchased,  at  a  low  rate,  the  confiscated 
estates.  The  blood  of  the  most  eminent  champions  of 
liberty  had  been  shed  upon  the  scaffold  ;  and  such  as  by 
a  timely  flight  avoided  that  fate,  were  wandering  iD 
miseiy  far  from  their  native  land,  while  the  obsequious 
slaves  of  despotism  enjoyed  their  patrimony.  Still  more 
insupportable  than  the  oppression  of  these  petty  tyrants, 
was  the  restraint  of  conscience  which  was  imposed  with- 
out distinction  on  all  the  Protestants  of  that  kingdom. 
No  external  danger,  no  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
nation,  not  even  the  fearful,  however  steadfast,  lessons  of 
past  experience,  could  check  in  the  Jesuits  the  rage  of 
proselytism :  where  fair  means  were  ineffectual,  recourse 


SCMiLLlER*«   THIRTY    YEÄ'Ita'  WAR. 


209 


was  had  to  military  force  to  bring  the  deluded  wanderers 
within  the  pale  of  the  Church.  The  inhabitants  of  Joa- 
chimsthal, on  the  frontiers  between  Bohemia  and  Meis- 
sen, were  the  chief  sufferers  from  this  violence.  Two 
imperial  commissaries,  accompanied  by  as  many  Jesuits, 
and  supported  by  fifteen  musketeers,  made  their  appear- 
ance, in  this  peaceful  valley,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
heretics.  Where  the  rhetoric  of  the  former  was  in- 
effectual, the  forcibly  quartering  the  latter  upon  the 
houses,  and  threats  of  banishment  and  fines,  were  tried. 
But  on  this  occasion,  the  good  cause  prevailed,  and  the 
bold  resistance  of  this  small  district  compelled  the  em- 
peror, disgracefully,  to  recall  his  mandate  of  conversion. 
The  ^example  of  the  court  had,  however,  afforded  a  pre- 
cedent to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  empire,  and 
seemed -to  justify  eveiy  act  of  oppression  which  their 
insolence  tempted  them  to  wreak  upon  the  Protestants. 
It  is  not  surprising,  then,  if  this  persecuted  party  was 
favorable  to  a  revolution,  and  saw  with  pleasure  their 
deliverers  on  the  frontiers. 

The  Saxon  army  was  already  on  its  march  toward 
Prague  ;  the  imperial  garrisons  eveiy  where  retired  be- 
fore them;  Schloechenau,  Tetschen,  Aussig,  Leutme- 
ritz,  soon  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  every  Roman 
Catholic  place  was  abandoned  to  plunder.  Consterna- 
tion seized  all  the  papists  of  the  empire  ;  and  conscious 
of  the  outrages  which  they  themselves  had  committed 
on  the  Protestants,  they  did  not  venture  to  abide  the 
vengeful  arrival  of  a  Protestant  army.  All  the  Roman 
Catholics,  who  had  any  thing  to  lose,  fled  hastily  from 
the  country  to  the  capital,  which  again  they  presently 
abandoned.  Prague  was  unprepared  for  an  attack,  and 
was  too  weakly  garrisoned  to  sustain  a  long  siege.  Too 
late  had  the  emperor  resolved  to  dispatch  Field-Mar- 
shal Tiefenbach  to  the  defense  of  this  capital.  Before 
the  imperial  orders  could  reach  the  head-quarters  of 
that  general,  in  Silesia,  the  Saxons  were  already  close 
to  Prague,  the  Protestant  inhabitants  of  which  showed 
little  zeal,  while  the  weakness  of  the  garrison  left  no 
room  to  hope  a  long  resistance.  In  this  fearful  state  of 
embarrassment,  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Prague  looked 
for  security  to  Wallenstein,  who  now  lived  in  that  city 
14  s2 


210      schillek's  thirty  years'  war. 


as  a  private  individual.  But  far  from  lending  his  mili- 
tary experience  and  the  weight  of  his  name  toward  its 
defense,  he  seized  the  favorable  opportunity  to  satiate 
his  thirst  for  revenge.  If  he  did  not  actually  invite  the 
Saxons  to  Prague,  at  least  his  conduct  facilitated  its 
capture.  Though  unprepared,  the  town  might  still  hold 
out  until  succors  could  arrive  ;  and  an  imperial  colonel, 
Count  Maradas,  showed  serious  intentions  of  undertak- 
ing its  defense.  But  without  command  and  authority, 
and  having  no  support  but  his  own  zeal  and  courage,  he 
did  not  dare  to  venture  upon  such  a  step  without  the 
advice  of  a  superior.  He  therefore  consulted  the  Duke 
of  Friedland,  whose  approbation  might  supply  the  want 
of  authority  from  the  emperor,  and  to  whom  the  Bohe- 
mian generals  were  referred  by  an  express  edict  of  the 
court  in  the  last  extremity.  He,  however,  artfully  ex- 
cused himself,  on  the  plea  of  holding  no  official  appoint- 
ment, and  his  long  retirement  from  the  political  world; 
while  he  weakened  the  resolution  of  the  subalterns  by 
the  scruples  which  he  suggested,  and  painted  in  the 
strongest  colors.  At  last,  to  render  the  consternation 
general  and  complete,  he  quitted  the  capital  with  his 
whole  court,  however  little  he  had  to  fear  from  its  cap- 
ture ;  and  the  city  was  lost,  because,  by  his  departure, 
he  showed  that  he  despaired  of  its  safety.  His  exam- 
ple was  followed  by  all  the  Roman  Catholic  nobility,  the 
generals  with  their  troops,  the  clergy,  and  all  the  officers 
of  the  crown.  All  night  the  people  were  employed  in 
saving  their  persons  and  effects.  The  roads  to  Vienna 
were  crowded  with  fugitives,  who  scarcely  recovered 
from  their  consternation  till  they  reached  the  imperial 
city.  Maradas  himself,  despairing  of  the  safety  of 
Prague,  followed  the  rest,  and  led  his  small  detachment 
to  Tabor,  where  he  awaited  the  event. 

Profound  silence  reigned  in  Prague,  when  the  Sax- 
ons next  morning  appeared  before  it;  no  preparations 
were  made  for  defense  ;  not  a  single  shot  from  the  walls 
announced  an  intention  of  resistance.  On  the  contrary, 
a  crowd  of  spectators  from  the  town,  allured  by  curios- 
ity, came  flocking  round,  to  behold  the  foreign  army  ; 
and  the  peaceful  confidence  with  which  they  advanced 
resembled  a  friendly  salutation,  more  than  a  hostile  re- 


SCHILLER^  THIRTY   YEARS'   WAR.  211 


ception.  From  the  concurrent  reports  of  these  people, 
the  Saxons  learned  that  the  town  had  been  deserted 
by  the  troops,  and  that  the  government  had  fled  to  Bud- 
weiss.  This  unexpected  and  inexplicable  absence  of 
resistance  excited  Arnheinrs  distrust  the  more,  as  the 
speedy  approach  of  the  Silesian  succors  was  no  secret 
to  him,  and  as  he  knew  that  the  Saxon  army  was  too 
indifferently  provided  with  materials  for  undertaking  a 
siege,  and  by  far  too  weak  in  numbers  to  attempt  to 
take  the  place  by  storm.  Apprehensive  of  stratagem, 
he  redoubled  his  vigilance ;  and  he  continued  in  this 
conviction  until  Wallenstein's  house-steward,  whom  he 
discovered  among  the  crowd,  confirmed  to  him  this 
intelligence.  "  The  town  is  ours  without  a  blow  !"  ex- 
claimed he  in  astonishment  to  his  officers,  and  immedi- 
ately summoned  it  by  a  trumpeter. 

The  citizens  of  Prague,  thus  shamefully  abandoned 
by  their  defenders,  had  long  taken  their  resolution  ;  all 
that  they  had  to  do  was  to  secure  their  properties  and 
liberties  by  an  advantageous  capitulation.  No  sooner 
was  the  treaty  signed  by  the  Saxon  general,  in  his  mas- 
ter's name,  than  the  gates  were  opened,  without  farther 
opposition  ;  and  upon  the  11th  of  November,  1631,  the 
army  made  their  triumphal  entry.  The  elector  soon 
after  followed  in  person,  to  receive  the  homage  of  those 
whom  he  had  newly  taken  under  his  protection  ;  for  it 
was  only  in  the  character  of  protector  that  the  three 
towns  of  Prague  had  surrendered  to  him.  Their  alle- 
giance to  the  Austrian  monarchy  was  not  to  be  dissolved 
by  the  step  they  had  taken.  In  proportion  as  the  pa- 
pists' apprehensions  of  reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  Prot- 
estants had  been  exaggerated,  so  was  their  surprise 
great  at  the  moderation  of  the  elector,  and  the  discipline 
of  his  troops.  Field- Marshal  Arnheim  plainly  evinced, 
on  this  occasion,  his  respect  for  Wallenstein.  Not  con- 
tent with  sparing  his  estates  on  his  march,  he  now 
placed  guards  over  his  palace,  in  Prague,  to  prevent  the 
plunder  of  any  of  his  effects.  The  Roman  Catholics  of 
the  town  were  allowed  the  fullest  liberty  of  conscience ; 
and  of  all  the  churches  they  had  wrested  from  the  Prot- 
estants, four  only  were  now  taken  back  from  them. 
From  this  general  indulgence,  none  were  excluded  but 


212 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


the  Jesuits,  who  were  generally  considered  as  the  au- 
thors of  all  past  grievances,  and  thus  banished  the 
kingdom. 

John  George  belied  not  the  submission  and  depend- 
ence with  which  the  terror  of  the  imperial  name  inspir- 
ed him  ;  nor  did  he  indulge,  at  Prague,  in  a  course  of 
conduct  which  would  assuredly  be  retaliated  upon  him- 
self in  Dresden,  by  imperial  generals,  such  as  Tilly  or 
Wallenstein.  He  carefully  distinguished  between  the 
enemy  with  whom  he  was  at  war,  and  the  head  of  the 
empire,  to  whom  he  owed  obedience.  He  did  not  ven- 
ture to  touch  the  household  furniture  of  the  latter, 
while,  without  scruple,  he  appropriated  and  transported 
to  Dresden  the  cannon  of  the  former.  He  did  not  take 
up  his  residence  in  the  imperial  palace,  but  the  house 
of  Lichtenstein:  too  modest  to  use  the  apartments  of 
one  whom  he  had  deprived  of  a  kingdom.  Had  this 
trait  been  related  of  a  great  man  and  a  hero,  it  would 
irresistibly  excite  our  admiration  ;  but  the  character  of 
this  prince  leaves  us  in  doubt  whether  this  moderation 
ought  to  be  ascribed  to  a  noble  self-command,  or  to  the 
littleness  of  a  weak  mind,  which  even  good  fortune 
could  not  embolden,  and  liberty  itself  could  not  strip  of 
its  habituated  fetters. 

The  surrender  of  Prague,  which  was  quickly  follow- 
ed by  that  of  most  of  the  other  towns,  effected  a  great 
and  sudden  change  in  Bohemia.  Many  of  the  Protes- 
tant nobility,  who  had  hitherto  been  wandering  about  in 
misery,  now  returned  to  their  native  country ;  and 
Count  Thurn,  the  famous  author  of  the  Bohemian 
insurrection,  enjoyed  the  triumph  of  returning  as  a  con- 
queror to  the  scene  of  his  crime  and  his  condemnation. 
Over  the  very  bridge  where  the  heads  of  his  adherents, 
exposed  to  view,  held  out  a  fearful  picture  of  the  fate 
which  had  threatened  himself,  he  now  made  his  tri- 
umphal entry  ;  and  to  remove  these  ghastly  objects  was 
his  first  care.  The  exiles  again  took  possession  of  their 
properties,  without  thinking  of  recompensing  for  the 
purchase  money  the  present  possessors,  who  had  mostly 
taken  to  flight.  Even  though  they  had  received  a  price 
for  their  estates,  they  seized  on  every  thing  which  had 
once  been  their  own ;  and  many  had  reason  to  rejoice 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  213 


at  the  economy  of  the  late  possessors.  The  lands  and 
cattle  had  greatly  improved  in  their  hands  ;  the  apart- 
ments were  now  decorated  with  the  most  costly  furni- 
ture ;  the  cellars,  which  had  been  left  empty,  were 
richly  filled  ;  the  stables  supplied  ;  the  magazines  stored 
with  provisions.  But  distrusting  the  constancy  of  that 
good  fortune,  which  had  so  unexpectedly  smiled  upon 
them,  they  hastened  to  get  quit  of  these  insecure  pos- 
sessions, and  to  convert  their  immovable  into  transfer- 
able property. 

The  presence  of  the  Saxons  inspired  all  the  Protes- 
tants of  the  kingdom  with  courage  ;  and,  both  in  the 
country  aud  the  capital,  crowds  flocked  to  the  newly 
opened  Protestant  churches.  Many,  whom  fear  alone 
had  retained  in  their  adherence  to  popery,  now  openly 
professed  the  new  doctrine  ;  and  many  of  the  late  con- 
verts to  Roman  Catholicism  gladly  renounced  a  compul- 
sory persuasion,  to  follow  the  earlier  conviction  of  their 
conscience.  All  the  moderation  of  the  new  regency 
could  not  restrain  the  manifestation  of  that  just  dis- 
pleasure, which  this  persecuted  people  felt  against  their 
oppressors.  They  made  a  fearful  and  cruel  use  of  their 
newly  recovered  rights  ;  and,  in  many  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, their  hatred  of  the  religion  which  they  had  been 
compelled  to  profess,  could  be  satiated  only  by  the  blood 
of  its  adherents. 

Meantime  the  succors,  which  the  imperial  generals, 
Goetz  and  Tiefenbach,  were  conducting  from  Silesia, 
had  entered  Bohemia,  where  they  were  joined  by  some 
of  Tilly's  regiments,  from  the  Upper  Palatinate.  In 
order  to  disperse  them  before  they  should  receive  any 
further  reinforcement,  Arnheim  advanced  with  part  of 
his  army  from  Prague,  and  made  a  vigorous  attack  on 
their  inrrenchments  near  Limburg  on  the  Elbe.  After 
a  severe  action,  not  without  great  loss,  he  drove  the 
enemy  from  their  fortified  camp,  and  forced  them,  by 
his  heavy  fire,  to  recross  the  Elbe,  and  to  destroy  the 
bridge  which  they  had  built  over  that  river.  Never- 
theless, the  imperialists  obtained  the  advantage  in  several 
skirmishes,  and  the  Croats  pushed  their  incursions  to 
the  very  gates  of  Prague.  Brilliant  and  promising  as 
the  opening  of  the  Bohemian  campaign  had  been,  the 


2 Ii      bchiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


issue  by  no  means  satisfied  the  expectations  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  Instead  of  vigorously  following  up  their  ad- 
vantages, by  forcing  a  passage  to  the  Swedish  army 
through  the  conquered  country,  and  then,  in  conjunction 
with  it,  attacking  the  imperial  power  in  its  center,  they 
weakened  themselves  in  a  war  of  skirmishes,  in  which 
they  were  not  always  successful,  while  they  lost  the  time 
which  should  have  been  devoted  to  greater  undertakings. 
But  the  elector's  subsequent  conduct  betrayed  the  mo- 
tives which  had  prevented  him  from  pushing  his  advan- 
tage over  the  emperor,  and  by  consistent  measures 
promoting  the  plans  of  the  King  of  Sweden. 

The  emperor  had  now  lost  the  greater  part  of  Bohe- 
mia, and  the  Saxons  were  advancing  against  Austria, 
while  the  Swedish  monarch  was  rapidly  moving  to  the 
same  point  through  Franconia,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria.  A 
long  war  had  exhausted  the  strength  of  the  Austrian 
monarchy,  wrasted  the  country,  and  diminished  its 
armies.  The  renown  of  its  victories  was  no  more,  as 
well  as  the  confidence  inspired  by  constant  success  ;  its 
troops  had  lost  the  obedience  and  discipline  to  which 
those  of  the  Swedish  monarch  owed  all  their  superiority 
in  the  field.  The  confederates  of  the  emperor  were 
disarmed,  or  their  fidelity  shaken  by  the  danger  which 
threatened  themselves.  Even  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
Austria's  most  powerful  ally,  seemed  disposed  to  yield 
to  the  seductive  proposition  of  neutrality  ;  while  his  sus- 
picious alliance  with  France  had  long  been  a  subject  of 
apprehension  to  the  emperor.  The  bishops  of  Wurtz- 
burg  and  Bamberg,  the  elector  of  Mentz,  and  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine,  were  either  expelled  from  their  territo- 
ries, or  threatened  with  immediate  attack  :  Treves  had 
placed  itself  under  the  protection  of  France.  The 
bravery  of  the  Hollanders  gave  full  employment  to  the 
Spanish  arms  in  the  Netherlands ;  while  Gustavus  had 
driven  them  from  the  Rhine.  Poland  was  still  fettered 
by  the  truce  which  subsisted  between  that  country  and 
Sweden.  The  Hungarian  frontier  was  threatened  by 
the  Transylvanian  prince,  Ragotsky,  a  successor  of 
Bethlem  Gabor,  and  the  inheritor  of  his  restless  mind  ; 
while  the  Porte  was  making  great  preparation  to  profit 
by  the  favorable  conjuncture  for  aggression.    Most  ot 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  215 


the  Protestant  states,  encouraged  by  their  protector's 
success,  were  openly  and  actively  declaring  against  the 
emperor.  All  the  resources  which  had  been  obtained 
by  the  violent  and  oppressive  extortions  of  Tilly  and 
Wallenstein  were  exhausted ;  all  these  depots,  magazines, 
and  rallying-points,  were  now  lost  to  the  emperor ;  and 
the  war  could  no  longer  be  carried  on  as  before  at  the 
cost  of  others.  To  complete  his  embarrassment,  a  dan- 
gerous insurrection  broke  out  in  the  territory  of  the  Ens, 
where  the  ill-timed  religious  zeal  of  the  government  had 
provoked  the  Protestants  to  resistance ;  and  thus  fanat- 
icism lit  its  torch  within  the  empire,  while  a  foreign 
enemy  was  already  on  its  frontier.  After  so  long  a  con- 
tinuance of  good  fortune,  such  brilliant  victories  and 
extensive  conquests,  such  fruitless  effusion  of  blood,  the 
emperor  saw  himself  a  second  time  on  the  brink  of  that 
abyss  into  which  he  was  so  near  falling  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  reign.  If  Bavaria  should  embrace  the 
neutrality  ;  if  Saxony  should  resist  the  tempting  offers  he 
had  held  out ;  and  France  resolve  to  attack  the  Spanish 
power  at  the  same  time  in  the  Netherlands,  in  Italy, 
and  in  Catalonia,  the  ruin  of  Austria  would  be  complete  ; 
the  allied  powers  would  divide  its  spoils,  and  the  political 
system  of  Germany  would  undergo  a  total  change. 

The  chain  of  these  disasters  began  with  the  battle  of 
Breitenfeld,  the  unfortunate  issue  of  which  plainly  re 
vealed  the  lcng  decided  decline  of  the  Austrian  power, 
whose  weakness  had  hitherto  been  concealed  under  the 
dazzling  glitter  of  a  grand  name.  The  chief  cause  of 
the  Swedes'  superiority  in  the  field  was  evidently  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  unlimited  power  of  their  leader,  who 
concentrated  in  himself  the  whole  strength  of  his  party  ; 
and,  unfettered  in  his  enterprises  by  any  higher  author- 
ity, was  complete  master  of  every  favorable  opportunity, 
could  control  all  his  means  to  the  accomplishment  of  his 
ends,  and  was  responsible  to  none  but  himself.  But 
since  Wallenstein's  dismissal,  and  Tilly's  defeat,  the 
very  reverse  of  this  course  was  pursued  by  the  emperor 
and  the  League.  The  generals  wanted  authority  over 
their  troops  and  liberty  of  acting  at  their  discretion  ;  the 
soldiers  were  deficient  in  discipline  and  obedience ;  the 
scattered  corps  in  combined  operation ;  the  states  in 


.^C  liiLLEK's   THIRTY    YEARri'  WAR. 


attachment  to  the  cause  ;  the  leaders  in  harmony  among 
themselves ;  in  quickness  to  resolve,  and  firmness  to 
execute.  What  gave  the  emperor's  enemy  so  decided 
an  advantage  over  him  was  not  so  much  their  superior 
power  as  their  manner  of  using  it.  The  League  and 
the  emperor  did  not  want  means,  but  a  mind  capable  of 
directing  them  with  energy  and  effect.  Even  had  Count 
Tilly  not  lost  his  old  renown,  distrust  of  Bavaria  would 
not  allow  the  emperor  to  place  the  fate  of  Austria  in 
the  hands  of  one  who  had  never  concealed  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Bavarian  elector.  The  urgent  want  which 
Ferdinand  felt,  was  for  a  general  possessed  of  sufficient 
experience  to  form  and  to  command  an  army,  and  will- 
ing at  the  same  time  to  dedicate  his  services,  with  blind 
devotion,  to  the  Austrian  monarchy. 

This  choice  now  occupied  the  attention  of  the  em- 
peror's privy  council,  and  divided  the  opinions  of  its 
members.  In  order  to  oppose  one  monarch  to  another, 
and  by  the  presence  of  their  sovereign  to  animate  the 
courage  of  the  troops,  Ferdinand,  in  the  ardor  of  the 
moment,  had  offered  himself  to  be  the  leader  of  his 
army  ;  but  little  trouble  was  required  to  overturn  a  reso- 
lution which  was  the  offspring  of  despair  alone,  and 
which  yielded  at  once  to  calm  reflection.  But  the  situ 
ation  which  his  dignity,  and  the  duties  of  administration 
prevented  the  emperor  from  holding,  might  be  filled  bj 
his  son,  a  youth  of  talents  and  bravery,  and  of  whom  the 
subjects  of  Austria  had  already  formed  great  expecta- 
tions. Called  by  his  birth  to  the  defense  of  a  monarchy, 
of  whose  crowns  he  wore  two  already,  Ferdinand  III., 
King  of  Hungary  and  of  Bohemia,  united,  with  the  natu- 
ral dignity  of  heir  to  the  throne,  the  respect  of  the  army, 
and  the  attachment  of  the  people,  whose  cooperation 
was  indispensable  to  him  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
None  but  the  beloved  heir  to  the  crown  could  venture 
to  impose  new  burdens  on  a  people  already  severely 
oppressed ;  his  personal  presence  with  the  army  could 
alone  suppress  the  pernicious  jealousies  of  the  several 
leaders,  and,  by  the  influence  of  his  name,  restore  the 
neglected  discipline  of  the  troops  to  its  former  rigor, 
if  so  young  a  leader  was  devoid  of  the  maturity  of  judg- 
ment, prudence,  and  military  experience;  which  prac- 


schillee's  thirty  years'  war. 


217 


tice  alone  could  impart,  this  deficiency  might  be  supplied 
by  a  judicious  choice  of  counselors  and  assistants,  who, 
under  the  cover  of  his  name,  might  be  vested  with  su- 
preme authority. 

But  plausible  as  were  the  arguments  with  which  a 
part  of  the  ministry  supported  this  plan,  it  was  met  by 
difficulties  not  less  serious,  arising  from  the  distrust, 
perhaps  even  the  jealousy,  of  the  emperor,  and  also 
from  the  desperate  state  of  affairs.  How  dangerous 
was  it  to  intrust  the  fate  of  the  monarchy  to  a  youth, 
who  was  himself  in  need  of  counsel  and  support !  How 
hazardous  to  oppose  to  the  greatest  general  of  his  age, 
a  tyro,  whose  fitness  for  so  important  a  post  had  never 
yet  been  tested  by  experience ;  whose  name,  as  yet 
unknown  to  fame,  was  far  too  powerless  to  inspire  a 
dispirited  army  with  the  assurance  of  future  victory ! 
What  a  new  burden  on  the  country,  to  support  the 
state  a  royal  leader  was  required  to  maintain,  and  which 
the  prejudices  of  the  ages  considered  as  inseparable 
from  his  presence  with  the  army  !  How  serious  a  con- 
sideration for  the  prince  himself,  to  commence  his  polit- 
ical career,  with  an  office  which  must  make  him  the 
scourge  of  his  people,  and  the  oppressor  of  the  territo- 
ries which  he  was  hereafter  to  rule. 

But  not  only  was  a  general  to  be  found  for  the  army  ; 
an  army  must  also  be  found  for  the  general.  Since  the 
compulsory  resignation  of  Wallenstein,  the  emperor  had 
defended  himself  more  by  the  assistance  of  Bavaria  and 
the  League,  than  by  his  own  armies ;  and  it  was  this 
dependence  on  equivocal  allies,  which  he  was  endeavor- 
ing to  escape,  by  the  appointment  of  a  general  of  his 
own.  But  what  possibility  was  there  of  raising  an  army 
out  of  nothing,  without  the  all-powerful  aid  of  gold,  and 
the  inspiriting  name  of  a  victorious  commander ;  above 
all,  an  army  which,  by  its  discipline,  warlike  spirit,  and 
activity,  should  be  fit  to  cope  with  the  experienced 
troops  of  the  northern  conquerer  ?  In  all  Europe,  there 
was  but  one  man  equal  to  this,  and  that  one  had  been 
mortally  affronted. 

The  moment  had  at  last  arrived,  when  more  than 
ordinary  satisfaction  was  to  be  done  to  the  wounded 
pride  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland.  Fate  itself  had  been 
T 


218       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


his  avenger,  and  an  unbroken  chain  of  disasters,  which 
had  assailed  Austria  from  the  day  of  his  dismissal,  had 
wrung  from  the  emperor  the  humiliating  confession,  that 
with  this  general  he  had  lost  his  right  arm.  Every  de- 
feat of  his  troops  opened  afresh  this  wound  ;  every  town 
which  he  lost,  revived  in  the  mind  of  the  deceived  mon- 
arch the  memory  of  his  own  weakness  and  ingratitude. 
It  would  have  been  well  for  him,  if,  in  the  offended 
general,  he  had  only  lost  a  leader  of  his  troops,  and  a 
defender  of  his  dominions ;  but  he  was  destined  to  find 
in  him  an  enemy,  and  the  most  dangerous  of  all,  since 
he  was  least  armed  against  the  stroke  of  treason. 

Removed  from  the  theater  of  war,  and  condemned  to 
irksome  inaction,  while  his  rivals  gathered  laurels  on  the 
field  of  glory,  the  haughty  duke  had  beheld  these  changes 
of  fortune  with  affected  composure,  and  concealed,  un- 
der a  glittering  and  theatrical  pomp,  the  dark  designs  of 
his  restless  genius.  Torn  by  burning  passions  within, 
while  all  without  bespoke  calmness  and  indifference,  he 
brooded  over  projects  of  ambition  and  revenge,  and 
slowly,  but  surely,  advanced  toward  his  end.  All  that 
he  owed  to  the  emperor  was  effaced  from  his  mind ; 
what  he  himself  had  done  for  the  emperor  was  imprint- 
ed in  burning  characters  on  his  memory.  To  his  insa- 
tiable thirst  for  power,  the  emperor's  ingratitude  was 
welcome,  as  it  seemed  to  tear  in  pieces  the  record  of 
past  favors,  to  absolve  him  from  every  obligation  toward 
his  former  benefactor.  In  the  disguise  of  a  righteous 
retaliation,  the  projects  dictated  by  his  ambition  now 
appeared  to  him  just  and  pure.  In  proportion  as  the 
external  circle  of  his  operations  was  narrowed,  the  world 
of  hope  expanded  before  him,  and  his  dreamy  imagina- 
tion reveled  in  boundless  projects,  which,  in  any  mind 
but  such  as  his,  madness  alone  could  have  given  birth  to. 
His  services  had  raised  him  to  the  proudest  height  which 
it  was  possible  for  a  man,  by  his  own  efforts,  to  attain. 
Fortune  had  denied  him  nothing  which  the  subject  and 
the  citizen  could  lawfully  enjoy.  Till  the  moment  of 
his  dismissal,  his  demands  had  met  with  no  refusal,  his 
ambition  had  met  with  no  check ;  but  the  blow  which, 
at  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  humbled  him,  showed  him  the 
difference  between  original  and  deputed  power,  the 


schiller's  thtrty  years'  war.  219 


distance  between  the  subject  and  his  sovereign.  Roused 
from  the  intoxication  of  his  own  greatness  by  this  sudden 
reverse  of  fortune,  he  compared  the  authority  which  he 
had  possessed,  with  that  which  had  deprived  him  of  it; 
and  his  ambition  marked  the  steps  which  it  had  yet 
to  surmount  upon  the  ladder  of  fortune.  From  the 
moment  he  had  so  bitterly  experienced  the  weight  of 
sovereign  power,  his  efforts  were  directed  to  attain  it  for 
himself:  the  wrong  which  he  himself  had  suffered 
made  him  a  robber.  Had  he  not  been  outraged  by 
injustice,  he  might  have  obediently  moved  in  his  orbit 
round  the  majesty  of  the  throne,  satisfied  with  the 
glory  of  being  the  brightest  of  its  satellites.  It  was  only 
when  violently  forced  from  its  sphere,  that  his  wander- 
ing star  threw  in  disorder  the  system  to  which  it  be- 
longed, and  came  in  destructive  collision  with  its  sun. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  overrun  the  north  of  Germany ; 
one  place  after  another  was  lost;  and  at  Leipzig,  the 
flower  of  the  Austrian  army  had  fallen.  The  intelli- 
gence of  this  defeat  soon  reached  the  ears  of  Wallen- 
stein, who,  in  the  retired  obscurity  of  a  private  station 
in  Prague,  contemplated  from  a  calm  distance  the  tumult 
of  war.  The  news,  which  filled  the  breasts  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  with  dismay,  announced  to  him  the 
return  of  greatness  and  good  fortune.  For  him  was 
Gustavus  Adolphus  laboring.  Scarce  had  the  king  be- 
gun to  gain  reputation  by  his  exploits,  when  Wallenstein 
lost  not  a  moment  to  court  his  friendship,  and  to  make 
common  cause  with  this  successful  enemy  of  Austria. 
The  banished  Count  Thurn,  who  had  long  entered  the 
service  of  Sweden,  undertook  to  convey  Wallenstein's 
congratulations  to  the  king,  and  to  invite  him  to  a  close 
alliance  with  the  duke.  Wallenstein  required  fifteen 
thousand  men  from  the  king  ;  and  with  these,  and  the 
troops  he  himself  engaged  to  raise,  he  undertook  to 
conquer  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  to  surprise  Vienna,  and 
drive  his  master,  the  emperor,  before  him  into  Italy. 
Strong  as  was  this  unexpected  proposition,  its  extrava- 
gant promises  were  naturally  calculated  to  excite  suspi- 
cion. Gustavus  Adolphus  was  too  good  a  judge  of  merit 
to  reject  with  coldness  the  offers  of  one  who  might  be 
eo  important  a  friend.    But  when  W allenstein,  encour- 


220 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


aged  by  the  favorable  reception  of  his  first  message, 
renewed  it  after  the  battle  of  Breitenfeld,  and  pressed 
for  a  decisive  answer,  the  prudent  monarch  hesitated  to 
trust  his  reputation  to  the  chimerical  projects  of  so 
daring  an  adventurer,  and  to  commit  so  large  a  force  to 
the  honesty  of  a  man  who  felt  no  shame  in  openly 
avowing  himself  a  traitor.  He  excused  himself,  there- 
fore, on  the  plea  of  the  weakness  of  his  army,  which,  if 
diminished  by  so  large  a  detachment,  would  certainly 
suffer  in  its  march  through  the  empire ;  and  thus,  per 
haps,  by  excess  of  caution,  lost  an  opportunity  of  putting 
an  immediate  end  to  the  war.  He  afterward  endeavored 
to  renew  the  negotiation  ;  but  the  favorable  moment 
was  past,  and  Wallenstein's  offended  pride  never  forgave 
the  first  neglect. 

But  the  king's  hesitation,  perhaps,  only  accelerated 
the  breach,  which  their  characters  made  inevitable 
sooner  or  later.  Both  framed  by  nature  to  give  laws, 
not  to  receive  them,  they  could  not  long  have  coopera- 
ted in  an  enterprise,  which  eminently  demanded  mutual 
submission  and  sacrifices.  Wallenstein  was  nothing 
where  he  was  not  every  thing  ;  he  must  either  act  with 
unlimited  power,  or  not  at  all.  So  cordially,  too,  did 
Gustavus  dislike  control,  that  he  had  almost  renounced 
his  advantageous  alliance  with  France,  because  it  threat- 
ened to  fetter  his  own  independent  judgment.  Wallen- 
stein was  lost  to  a  party,  if  he  could  not  lead  :  the  latter 
was,  if  possible,  still  less  disposed  to  obey  the  instruc- 
tions of  another.  If  the  pretensions  of  a  rival  would  be 
so  irksome  to  the  Duke  of  Friedland,  in  the  conduct  of 
combined  operations,  in  the  division  of  the  spoil  they 
would  be  insupportable.  The  proud  monarch  might 
condescend  to  accept  the  assistance  of  a  rebellious  sub- 
ject against  the  emperor,  and  to  reward  his  valuable 
services  with  regal  munificence  ;  but  he  never  could 
so  far  lose  sight  of  his  own  dignity,  and  the  majesty  of 
royalty,  as  to  bestow  the  recompense  which  the  ex- 
travagant ambition  of  Wallenstein  demanded  ;  and  re- 
quite an  act  of  treason,  however  useful,  with  a  crown. 
En  him,  therefore,  even  if  all  Europe  should  tacitly 
acquiesce,  Wallensteiu  had  reason  to  expect  the  most 
decided  and  formidable  opponent  to  his  views  on  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  221 


Bohemian  crown  ;  and  in  all  Europe  he  was  the  only- 
one  who  could  enforce  his  opposition.  Constituted  dic- 
tator in  Germany  hy  Wallenstein  himself,  he  might  turn 
his  arms  against  him,  and  consider  himself  bound  by  no 
obligations  to  one  who  was  himself  a  traitor.  There 
was  no  room  for  a  Wallenstein  under  such  an  ally ;  and 
it  was,  apparently,  this  conviction,  and  not  any  supposed 
designs  upon  the  imperial  throne,  that  he  alluded  to, 
when,  after  the  death  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  It  is  well  for  him  and  me  that  he  is  gone.  The 
German  empire  does  not  require  two  such  leaders." 

His  first  scheme  of  revenge  on  the  House  of  Austria 
had  indeed  failed :  but  the  purpose  itself  remained  un- 
alterable :  the  choice  of  means  alone  was  changed. 
What  he  had  failed  in  effecting  with  the  King  of 
Sweden,  he  hoped  to  obtain  with  less  difficulty  and 
more  advantage  from  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  Him  he 
was  as  certain  of  being  able  to  bend  to  his  views,  as 
he  had  always  been  doubtful  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
Having  always  maintained  a  good  understanding  with 
his  old  friend,  Arnheim,  he  now  made  use  of  him  to 
bring  about  an  alliance  with  Saxony,  by  which  he  hoped 
to  render  himself  equally  formidable  to  the  emperor  and 
the  King  of  Sweden.  He  had  reason  to  expect  that  a 
scheme,  which,  if  successful,  would  deprive  the  Swedish 
monarch  of  his  influence  in  Germany,  would  be  wel- 
comed by  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  he  knew  was 
jealous  of  the  power  and  offended  at  the  lofty  preten- 
sions of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  If  he  succeeded  in  sepa- 
rating Saxony  from  the  Swedish  alliance,  and  in  estab- 
lishing, conjointly  with  that  power,  a  third  party  in  the 
empire,  the  fate  of  the  war  would  be  placed  in  his  hand; 
and  by  this  single  step  he  would  succeed  in  gratifying 
his  revenge  against  the  emperor,  revenging  the  neglect 
of  the  Swedish  monarch,  and  on  the  ruin  of  both,  rais- 
ing the  edifice  of  his  own  greatness. 

But  whatever  course  he  might  follow  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  designs,  he  could  not  carry  them  into  effect 
without  an  army  entirely  devoted  to  him.  Such  a  force 
could  not  be  secretly  raised  without  its  coming  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  imperial  court,  where  it  would  natu- 
rally excite  suspicion,  and  thus  frustrate  his  design  in 
t  2 


222 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  very  outset.  From  the  army,  too,  the  rebellious 
purposes  for  which  it  was  destined  must  be  concealed 
till  the  very  moment  of  execution,  since  it  could  scarcely 
be  expected  that  they  would  at  once  be  prepared  to 
listen  to  the  voice  of  a  traitor,  and  serve  against  their 
legitimate  sovereign.  Wallenstein,  therefore,  must 
raise  it  publicly  and  in  name  of  the  emperor,  and  be 
placed  at  its  head,  with  unlimited  authority,  by  the  em- 
peror himself.  But  how  could  this  be  accomplished, 
otherwise  than  by  his  being  appointed  to  the  command 
of  the  army,  and  intrusted  with  full  powers  to  conduct 
the  war  ?  Yet  neither  his  pride  nor  his  interest  per- 
mitted him  to  sue  in  person  for  this  post,  and  as  a  sup- 
pliant to  accept  from  the  favor  of  the  emperor  a  limited 
power,  when  an  unlimited  authority  might  be  extorted 
from  his  fears.  In  order  to  make  himself  the  master  of 
the  terms  on  which  he  would  resume  the  command  of 
the  army,  his  course  was  to  wait  until  the  post  should 
be  forced  upon  him.  This  was  the  advice  he  received 
from  Arnheim,  and  this  the  end  for  which  he  labored 
with  profound  policy  and  restless  activity. 

Convinced  that  extreme  necessity  would  alone  con- 
quer the  emperor's  irresolution,  and  render  powerless 
the  opposition  of  his  bitter  enemies,  Bavaria  and  Spain, 
he  henceforth  occupied  himself  in  promoting  the  suc- 
cess of  the  enemy,  and  in  increasing  the  embarrass- 
ments of  his  master.  It  was  apparently  by  his  instiga- 
tion and  advice  that  the  Saxons,  when  on  the  route  to 
Lusatia  and  Silesia,  had  turned  their  march  toward  Bo- 
hemia, and  overrun  that  defenseless  kingdom,  where 
their  rapid  conquests  were  partly  the  result  of  his  meas- 
ures. By  the  fears  which  he  affected  to  entertain,  he 
paralyzed  every  effort  at  resistance  ;  and  his  precipitate 
retreat  caused  the  delivery  of  the  capital  to  the  enemy. 
At  a  conference  with  the  Saxon  general,  which  was 
held  at  Kaunitz  under  the  pretext  of  negotiating  for  a 
peace,  the  seal  was  put  to  the  conspiracy,  and  the  con- 
quest of  Bohemia  was  the  first  fruits  of  this  mutual  un- 
derstanding. While  Wallenstein  was  thus  personally 
endeavoring  to  heighten  the  perplexities  of  Austria,  and 
while  the  rapid  movements  of  the  Swedes  upon  the 
Rhine  effectually  promoted  his  designs,  his  friends  and 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  223 


oribed  adherents  in  Vienna  uttered  loud  complaints  of 
the  public  calamities,  and  represented  the  dismissal  of 
the  general  as  the  sole  cause  of  all  these  misfortunes. 
"Had  Wallenstein  commanded,  matters  would  never 
have  come  to  this,"  exclaimed  a  thousand  voices  ;  while 
their  opinions  found  supporters  even  in  the  emperor's 
privy  council. 

Their  repeated  remonstrances  were  not  needed  to 
convince  the  embarrassed  emperor  of  his  general's  mer- 
its, and  of  his  own  error.  His  dependence  on  Bavaria 
and  the  League  had  soon  become  insupportable  ;  but 
hitherto  this  dependence  permitted  him  not  to  show  his 
distrust,  or  irritate  the  elector  by  the  recall  of  Wallen- 
stein. But  now,  when  his  necessities  grew  every  day 
more  pressing,  and  the  weakness  of  Bavaria  more  appa- 
rent, he  could  no  longer  hesitate  to  listen  to  the  friends 
of  the  duke,  and  to  consider  their  overtures  for  his  res- 
toration to  command.  The  immense  riches  Wallen- 
stein possessed,  the  universal  reputation  he  enjoyed,  the 
rapidity  with  which  six  years  before  he  had  assembled 
an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  the  little  expense  at 
which  he  had  maintained  this  formidable  force,  the  ac- 
tions he  had  performed  at  its  head,  and,  lastly,  the  zeal 
and  fidelity  he  had  displayed  for  his  master's  honor,  still 
lived  in  the  emperor's  recollection,  and  made  Wallen- 
stein seem  to  him  the  ablest  instrument  to  restore  the 
balance  between  the  belligerent  powers,  to  save  Aus- 
tria, and  preserve  the  Catholic  religion.  However  sen- 
sibly the  imperial  pride  might  feel  the  humiliation,  in 
being  forced  to  make  so  unequivocal  an  admission  of 
past  errors  and  present  necessity  ;  however  painful  it 
was  to  descend  to  humble  entreaties,  from  the  height 
of  imperial  command ;  however  doubtful  the  fidelity  of 
so  deeply  injured  and  implacable  a  character ;  however 
loudly  and  urgently  the  Spanish  minister  and  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria  protested  against  this  step,  the  immediate 
pressure  of  necessity  finally  overcame  every  other  con- 
sideration, and  the  friends  of  the  duke  were  empowered 
to  consult  him  on  the  subject,  and  to  hold  out  the  pros- 
pect of  his  restoration. 

Informed  of  all  that  was  transacted  in  the  emperor's 
cabinet  to  his  advantage.  Wallenstein  possessed  sufficient 


224:         BCfilLLEft'ä  THERTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


self-command  to  conceal  his  inward  triumph  and  to  as- 
sume the  mask  of  indifference.  The  moment  of  ven- 
geance was  at  last  come,  and  his  proud  heart  exulted  in 
the  prospect  of  repaying  with  interest  the  injuries  of 
the  emperor.  With  artful  eloquence,  he  expatiated 
upon  the  happy  tranquillity  of  a  private  station,  which 
had  blessed  him  since  his  retirement  from  a  political 
stage.  Too  long,  he  said,  had  he  tasted  the  pleasures 
of  ease  and  independence,  to  sacrifice  to  the  vain  phan- 
tom of  glory,  the  uncertain  favor  of  princes.  All  his  de- 
sire of  power  and  distinction  was  extinct ;  tranquillity 
and  repose  were  now  the  sole  object  of  his  wishes. 
The  better  to  conceal  his  real  impatience,  he  declined 
the  emperor's  invitation  to  the  court,  but  at  the  same 
time,  to  facilitate  the  negotiations,  came  to  Znaim  in 
Moravia. 

At  first  it  was  proposed  to  limit  the  authority  to  be 
intrusted  to  him,  by  the  presence  of  a  superior,  in  order, 
by  this  expedient,  to  silence  the  objections  of  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria.  The  imperial  deputies,  Questenberg  and 
Werdenberg,  who,  as  old  friends  of  the  duke,  had  been 
employed  in  this  delicate  mission,  were  instructed  to 
propose  that  the  King  of  Hungary  should  remain  with 
the  army,  and  learn  the  art  of  war  under  Wallenstein. 
But  the  very  mention  of  his  name  threatened  to  put  a 
period  to  the  whole  negotiation.  "  No  !  never,"  ex- 
claimed Wallenstein,  "  will  I  submit  to  a  colleague  in 
my  office.  No — not  even  if  it  were  God  himself,  with 
whom  I  should  have  to  share  my  command."  But  even 
when  this  obnoxious  point  was  given  up,  Prince  Eggen- 
berg,  the  emperor's  minister  and  favorite,  who  had 
always  been  the  steady  friend  and  zealous  champion  of 
Wallenstein,  and  was  therefore  expressly  sent  to  him, 
exhausted  his  eloquence  in  vain  to  overcome  the  pre- 
tended reluctance  of  the  duke.  "  The  emperor,"  he 
admitted,  "  had,  in  Wallenstein,  thrown  away  the  most 
costly  jewel  in  his  crown  :  but  unwillingly  and  compul- 
sorily  only  had  he  taken  this  step,  which  he  had  since 
deeply  repented  of ;  while  his  esteem  for  the  duke  had 
remained  unaltered,  his  favor  for  him  undiminished. 
Of  these  sentiments  he  now  gave  the  most  decisive 
proof,  by  reposing  unlimited  confidence  in  his  fidelity 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  225 


and  capacity  to  repair  the  mistakes  of  his  predecessors, 
and  to  change  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs.  It  would  be 
great  and  noble  to  sacrifice  his  just  indignation  to  the 
good  of  his  country ;  dignified  and  wTorthy  of  him  to 
refute  the  evil  calumny  of  his  enemies  by  the  double 
warmth  of  his  zeal.  This  victory  over  himself,"  con- 
cluded the  prince,  "would  crown  his  other  unparalleled 
services  to  the  empire,  and  render  him  the  greatest  man 
of  his  age." 

These  humiliating  confessions  and  flattering  assuran- 
ces seemed  at  last  to  disarm  the  anger  of  the  duke  :  but 
not  before  he  had  disburdened  his  heart  of  his  reproaches 
against  the  emperor,  pompously  dwelt  upon  his  own  ser- 
vices, and  humbled  to  the  utmost  the  monarch  who  so- 
licited his  assistance,  did  he  condescend  to  listen  to  the 
attractive  proposals  of  the  minister.  As  if  he  yielded 
entirely  to  the  force  of  their  arguments,  he  condescend- 
ed, with  a  haughty  reluctance.l  to  that  which  was  the 
most  ardent  wish  of  his  heart ;  and  deigned  to  favor  the 
ambassadors  with  a  ray  of  hope.  But  far  from  putting 
an  end  to  the  emperor's  embarrassments,  by  giving  at 
once  a  full  and  unconditional  consent,  he  only  acceded 
to  a  part  of  his  demands,  that  he  might  exalt  the  value 
of  that  which  still  remained,  and  was  of  most  import- 
ance. He  accepted  the  command,  but  only  for  three 
months :  merely  for  the  purpose  of  raising,  but  not  of 
leading,  an  army.  He  wished  only  to  show  his  power 
and  ability  in  its  organization,  and  to  display,  before  the 
eyes  of  the  emperor,  the  greatness  of  that  assistance, 
which  he  still  retained  in  his  hands.  Convinced  that 
an  army  raised  by  his  name  alone,  would,  if  deprived 
of  its  creator,  soon  sink  again  into  nothing,  he  intended 
it  to  serve  only  as  a  decoy  to  draw  more  important 
concessions  from  his  master.  And  yet  Ferdinand  con- 
gratulated himself,  even  in  having  gained  so  much  as 
he  had. 

Wallenstein  did  not  long  delay  to  fulfill  those  promises 
which  all  Germany  regarded  as  chimerical,  and  which 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  considered  as  extravagant.  But 
the  foundation  for  the  present  enterprise  had  been  long 
laid,  and  he  now  only  put  in  motion  the  machinery, 
which  many  years  had  been  prepared  for  the  purpose. 
15 


226       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Scarcely  had  the  news  spread  of  Wallenstein's  levies, 
when,  from  every  quarter  of  the  Austrian  monarchy, 
crowds  of  soldiers  repaired  to  try  their  fortunes  under 
this  experienced  general.  Many,  who  had  before  fought 
under  his  standards,  had  been  admiring  eye-witnesses 
of  his  great  actions,  and  experienced  his  magnanimity, 
came  forward  from  their  retirement  to  share  with  him 
a  second  time  both  booty  and  glory.  The  greatness  of 
the  pay  he  promised  attracted  thousands;  and  the  plen- 
tiful supplies  the  soldier  was  likely  to  enjoy  at  the  cost 
of  the  peasant,  was  to  the  latter  an  irresistible  induce- 
ment rather  at  once  to  embrace  the  militaiy  life,  instead 
of  being  the  victim  of  its  oppression.  All  the  Austrian 
provinces  were  compelled  to  assist  in  the  equipment. 
No  class  was  exempt  from  taxation — no  dignity  or  privi- 
lege from  capitation.  The  Spanish  court,  us  well  as 
the  King  of  Hungary,  agreed  to  contribute  a  consider- 
able sum.  The  ministers  made  large  presents,  while 
Wallenstein  himself  advanced  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  from  his  own  income  to  hasten  the  armament. 
The  poorer  officers  he  supported  out  of  his  own  rev- 
enues ;  and,  by  his  own  example,  by  brilliant  promotions, 
and  still  more  brilliant  promises,  he  induced  all  who 
were  able,  to  raise  troops  at  their  own  expense.  Who- 
ever raised  a  corps  at  their  own  cost  was  to  be  its  com- 
mander. In  the  appointment  of  officers,  religion  made 
no  difference.  Riches,  bravery,  and  experience  were 
more  regarded  than  creed.  By  this  uniform  treatment 
of  different  religious  sects,  and  still  more  by  his  express 
declaration,  that  his  present  levy  had  nothing  to  do  with 
religion,  the  Protestant  subjects  of  the  empire  were 
tranquilized,  and  reconciled  to  bear  their  share  of  the 
public  burdens.  The  duke,  at  the  same  time,  did  not 
omit  to  treat,  in  his  own  name,  with  foreign  states  for 
men  and  money.  He  prevailed  on  the  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine, a  second  time,  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  em- 
peror. Poland  was  urged  to  supply  him  with  Cossacks, 
and  Italy  with  warlike  necessaries.  Before  the  three 
months  were  expired,  the  array,  which  was  assembled 
in  Moravia,  amounted  to  no  less  than  forty  thousand 
men,  chiefly  drawn  from  the  unconquered  parts  of  Bohe- 
mia, from  Moravia,  Silesia,  and  the  German  provinces 


schillek's  thirty  years'  war.  227 


of  the  House  of  Austria.  What  to  every  one  had  ap- 
peared impracticable,  Wallenstein,  to  the  astonishment 
of  all  Europe,  had  in  a  short  time  effected.  The  charm 
of  his  name,  his  treasures,  and  his  genius,  had  assembled 
thousands  in  arms,  where  before  Austria  had  only  looked 
for  hundreds.  Furnished,  even  to  superfluity,  with  all 
necessaries,  commanded  by  experienced  officers,  and 
inflamed  by  enthusiasm  which  assured  itself  of  victory, 
this  newly  created  army  only  awaited  the  signal  of  their 
leader  to  show  themselves,  by  the  bravery  of  their 
deeds,  worthy  of  his  choice. 

The  duke  had  fulfilled  his  promise,  and  the  troops 
were  ready  to  take  the  field ;  he  then  retired,  and  left 
to  the  emperor  to  choose  a  commander.  But  it  would 
have  been  as  easy  to  raise  a  second  army  like  the  first, 
as  to  find  any  other  commander  for  it  than  Wallenstein. 
This  promising  army,  the  last  hope  of  the  emperor, 
was  nothing  but  an  illusion,  as  soon  as  the  charm  was 
dissolved  which  had  called  it  into  existence  ;  by  Wal- 
lenstein it  had  been  raised,  and,  without  him,  it  sank  like 
a  creation  of  magic  into  its  original  nothingness.  Its 
officers  were  either  bound  to  him  as  his  debtors,  or,  as 
his  creditors,  closely  connected  with  his  interests,  and 
the  preservation  of  his  power.  The  regiments  he  had 
intrusted  to  his  own  relations,  creatures,  and  favorites. 
He,  and  he  alone,  could  discharge  to  the  troops  the  ex- 
travagant promises  by  which  they  had  been  lured  into 
his  service.  His  pledged  word  was  the  only  security  on 
which  their  bold  expectations  rested  ;  a  blind  reliance  on 
his  omnipotence,  the  only  tie  which  linked  together  in 
one  common  life  and  soul  the  various  impulses  of  their 
zeal.  There  was  an  end  of  the  good  fortune  of  each  in- 
dividual, if  he  retired,  who  alone  was  the  voucher  of  its 
fulfillment. 

However  little  Wallenstein  was  serious  in  his  refusal, 
he  successfully  employed  this  means  to  terrify  the  em- 
peror into  consenting  to  his  extravagant  conditions.  The 
progress  of  the  enemy  every  day  increased  the  press- 
ure of  the  emperor's  difficulties,  while  the  remedy  was 
also  close  at  hand ;  a  word  from  him  might  terminate 
the  general  embarrassment.  Prince  Eggenberg  at 
length  received  orders,  for  the  third  and  last  time,  at 


'228       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


any  cost  and  sacrifice,  to  induce  his  friend,  Wallenstein, 
to  accept  the  command. 

He  found  him  at  Znaim  in  Moravia,  pompously  sur- 
rounded by  the  troops,  the  possession  of  which  he  made 
the  emperor  so  earnestly  to  long  for.  As  a  suppliant  did 
the  haughty  subject  receive  the  deputy  of  his  sovereign. 
"He  never  could  trust,"  he  said,  "to  a  restoration  to 
command,  which  he  owed  to  the  emperor's  necessities, 
and  not  to  his  sense  of  justice.  He  was  now  courted, 
because  the  danger  had  reached  its  height,  and  safety 
was  hoped  for  from  his  arm  only ;  but  his  successful 
services  would  soon  cause  the  servant  to  be  forgotten, 
and  the  return  of  security  would  bring  back  renewed 
ingratitude.  If  he  deceived  the  expectations  formed  of 
him,  his  long  earned  renown  would  be  forfeited  ;  even 
if  he  fulfilled  them,  his  repose  and  happiness  must  be 
sacrificed.  Soon  would  envy  be  excited  anew,  and  the 
dependent  monarch  would  not  hesitate,  a  second  time, 
to  make  an  offering  of  convenience  to  a  servant  whom 
he  could  now  dispense  with.  Better  for  him  at  once, 
and  voluntarily,  to  resign  a  post  from  which  sooner  or 
later  the  intrigues  of  his  enemies  would  expel  him.  Se- 
curity and  content  were  to  be  found  in  the  bosom  of  pri- 
vate life  ;  and  nothing  but  the  wish  to  oblige  the  em- 
peror had  induced  him,  reluctantly  enough,  to  relinquish 
for  a  time  his  blissful  repose." 

Tired  of  this  long  farce,  the  minister  at  last  assumed 
a  serious  tone,  and  threatened  the  obstinate  duke  with 
the  emperor's  resentment,  if  he  persisted  in  his  refusal. 
"  Low  enough  had  the  imperial  dignity,"  he  added, 
"  stooped  already  :  and  yet,  instead  of  exciting  his  mag- 
nanimity by  his  condescension,  he  had  only  flattered  his 
pride  and  increased  his  obstinacy.  If  this  sacrifice  had 
been  made  in  vain,  he  would  not  answer,  but  that  the 
suppliant  might  be  converted  into  the  sovereign,  and  that 
the  monarch  might  not  avenge  his  injured  dignity  on  his 
rebellious  subjects.  However  greatly  Ferdinand  may 
have  erred,  the  emperor  at  least  had  a  claim  to  obe- 
dience; the  man  might  be  mistaken,  but  the  monarch 
could  not  confess  his  error.  If  the  Duke  of  Friedland 
had  suffered  by  an  unjust  decree,  he  might  yet  be  rec- 
ompensed for  all  his  losses :  the  wound  which  it  had 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  229 


itself  inflicted,  the  hand  of  majesty  might  heal.  If  he 
asked  security  for  his  person  and  his  dignities,  the  em- 
peror's equity  would  refuse  him  no  reasonable  demand. 
Majesty  contemned,  admitted  not  of  any  atonement; 
disobedience  to  its  commands  canceled  the  most  brill- 
iant services.  The  emperor  required  his  services,  and 
as  emperor  he  demanded  them.  Whatever  price  Wal- 
lenstein might  set  upon  them,  the  emperor  would 
readily  agree  to  ;  but  he  demanded  obedience,  or  the 
weight  of  his  indignation  should  crush  the  refractory 
servant." 

Wallenstein,  whose  extensive  possessions  within  the 
Austrian  monarchy  were  momentarily  exposed  to  the 
power  of  the  emperor,  was  keenly  sensible  that  this 
was  no  idle  threat;  yet  it  was  not  fear  that  at  last  over- 
came his  affected  reluctance.  This  imperious  tone  of 
itself  was  to  his  mind  a  plain  proof  of  the  weakness  and 
despair  which  dictated  it,  while  the  emperor's  readiness 
to  yield  all  his  demands  convinced  him  that  he  had 
attained  the  summit  of  his  wishes.  He  now  made  a 
show  of  yielding  to  the  persuasions  of  Eggenberg;  and 
left  him,  in  order  to  write  down  the  conditions  on  which 
he  accepted  the  command. 

Not  without  apprehension,  did  the  minister  receive 
the  writing,  in  which  the  proudest  of  subjects  had  pre- 
scribed laws  to  the  proudest  of  sovereigns.  But  how- 
ever little  confidence  he  had  in  the  moderation  of  his 
friend,  the  extravagant  contents  of  his  writing  surpassed 
even  his  worst  expectations.  Wallenstein  required  the 
uncontrolled  command  over  all  the  German  armies  of 
Austria  and  Spain,  with  unlimited  powers  to  reward  and 
punish.  Neither  the  King  of  Hungary,  nor  the  emperor 
himself,  were  to  appear  in  the  army,  still  less  to  exercise 
any  act  of  authority  over  it.  No  commission  in  the 
army,  no  pension  or  letter  of  grace,  was  to  be  granted 
oy  the  emperor  without  Wallenstein's  approval.  All  the 
conquests  and  confiscations  that  should  take  place,  were 
to  be  placed  entirely  at  Wallenstein's  disposal,  to  the 
exclusion  of  every  other  tribunal.  For  his  ordinary  pay, 
an  imperial  hereditary  estate  was  to  be  assigned  him, 
with  another  of  the  conquered  estates  within  the  em- 
pire for  his  extraordinary  expenses.    Every  Austrian 


230 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


province  was  to  be  opened  to  him  if  he  required  it  in 
case  of  retreat.  He  further  demanded  the  assurance  of 
the  possession  of  the  Duchy  of  Mecklenburg,  in  the 
event  of  a  future  peace;  and  a  formal  and  timely  inti- 
mation, if  it  should  be  deemed  necessary  a  second  time 
to  deprive  him  of  the  command. 

In  vain  the  minister  entreated  him  to  moderate  his 
demands,  which,  if  granted,  would  deprive  the  emperor 
of  all  authority  over  his  own  troops,  and  make  him  abso- 
lutely dependent  on  his  general.  The  value  placed  on 
his  services  had  been  too  plainly  manifested  to  prevent 
him  dictating  the  price  at  which  they  were  to  be  pur- 
chased. If  the  pressure  of  circumstances  compelled  the 
emperor  to  grant  his  demands,  it  was  something  more 
than  a  mere  feeling  of  haughtiness  and  desire  of  revenge 
which  induced  the  duke  to  make  them.  His  plans  of 
rebellion  were  formed  :  to  its  success,  every  one  of  the 
conditions  for  which  Wallenstein  stipulated  in  this  treaty 
with  the  court,  was  indispensable.  Those  plans  required 
that  the  emperor  should  be  deprived  of  all  authority  in 
Germany,  and  be  placed  at  the  mercy  of  his  general ; 
and  this  object  would  be  attained  the  moment  Ferdi- 
nand subscribed  the  required  conditions.  The  use  which 
Wallenstein  intended  to  make  of  his  army  (widely  dif- 
ferent, indeed,  from  that  for  which  it  was  intrusted  to 
him),  brooked  not  of  a  divided  power,  and  still  less  of  an 
authority  superior  to  his  own.  To  be  the  sole  master 
of  the  will  of  his  troops,  he  must  also  be  the  sole  master 
of  their  destinies  :  insensibly  to  supplant  his  sovereign, 
and  to  transfer  permanently  to  his  own  person  the  rights 
of  sovereignty,  which  were  only  lent  to  him  for  a  time 
by  a  higher  authority,  he  must  cautiously  keep  the  latter 
out  of  the  view  of  the  army.  Hence  his  obstinate  refu- 
sal to  allow  any  prince  of  the  House  of  Austria  to  be 
present  with  the  army.  The  liberty  of  free  disposal  of 
all  the  conquered  and  confiscated  estates  in  the  empire, 
would  also  afford  him  fearful  means  of  purchasing  de- 
pendents and  instruments  of  his  plans,  and  of  acting  the 
dictator  in  Germany  more  absolutely  than  ever  any  em- 
peror did  in  time  of  peace.  By  the  right  to  use  any  of 
th<»  Austrian  provinces  as  a  place  of  refuge,  in  case  of 
ne^d,  he  had  full  power  to  hold  the  emperor  a  prisoner 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  231 


by  means  of  his  own  forces,  and  within  his  own  domin- 
ions ;  to  exhaust  the  strength  and  resources  of  these 
countries,  and  to  undermine  the  power  of  Austria  in  its 
very  foundation. 

Whatever  might  be  the  issue,  he  had  equally  secured 
his  own  advantage,  by  the  conditions  he  had  extorted 
from  the  emperor.  If  circumstances  proved  favorable 
to  his  daring  project,  this  treaty  with  the  emperor  facili 
tated  its  execution ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  course  of 
things  ran  counter  to  it,  it  would  at  least  afford  him  a 
brilliant  compensation  for  the  failure  of  his  plans.  But 
how  could  he  consider  an  agreement  valid,  which  was 
extorted  from  him,  and  based  upon  treason  ?  How  could 
he  hope  to  bind  the  emperor  by  a  written  agreement,  in 
the  face  of  a  law  which  condemned  to  death  every  one 
who  should  have  the  presumption  to  impose  conditions 
upon  him  ?  But  this  criminal  was  the  most  indispen- 
sable man  in  the  empire,  and  Ferdinand,  well  practiced 
in  dissimulation,  granted  him,  for  the  present,  all  he 
required. 

At  last,  then,  the  imperial  army  had  found  a  command- 
er-in-chief worthy  of  the  name.  Every  other  authority 
in  the  army,  even  that  of  the  emperor  himself,  ceased 
from  the  moment  Wallenstein  assumed  the  commander's 
baton,  and  every  act  was  invalid  which  did  not  proceed 
from  him.  From  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  to  those  of 
the  Weser  and  the  Oder,  was  felt  the  life-giving  dawn- 
ing of  this  new  star  :  a  new  spirit  seemed  to  inspire  the 
troops  of  the  emperor  ;  a  new  epoch  of  the  war  began. 
The  papist  forms  fresh  hopes,  the  Protestant  beholds 
with  anxiety  the  chauged  course  of  affairs. 

The  greater  the  price  at  which  the  service  of  the  new 
general  had  been  purchased,  the  greater,  justly,  were 
the  expectations  from  those  which  the  court  of  the  em- 
peror entertained.  But  the  duke  was  in  no  hurry  to 
fulfill  these  expectations.  Already  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bohemia,  and  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  force,  he  had 
but  to  show  himself  there,  in  order  to  overpower  the 
exhausted  force  of  the  Saxons,  and  brilliantly  to  com- 
mence his  ::ew  career  by  the  reconquest  of  that  kingdom. 
But,  contented  with  harassing  the  enemy  with  indecisive 
skirmishes  of  his  Croats,  he  abandoned  the  best  part  of 


232 


SCHILLER^  THIKTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


that  kingdom  to  be  plundered,  and  moved  calmly  forward 
in  pursuit  of  his  own  selfish  plans.  His  design  was,  not 
to  conquer  the  Saxons,  but  to  unite  with  them.  Exclu- 
sively occupied  with  this  important  object,  he  remained 
inactive,  in  the  hope  of  conquering  more  surely  by  means 
of  negotiation.  He  left  no  expedient  untried,  to  detach 
this  prince  from  the  Swedish  alliance ;  and  Ferdinand 
himself,  ever  inclined  to  an  accommodation  with  this 
prince,  approved  of  this  proceeding.  But  the  great  debt 
which  Saxony  owed  to  Sweden,  was  as  yet  too  freshly 
remembered  to  allow  of  such  an  act  of  perfidy  ;  and  even 
had  the  elector  been  disposed  to  yield  to  the  temptation, 
the  equivocal  character  of  Wallenstein,  and  the  bad 
character  of  Austrian  policy,  precluded  any  reliance  in 
the  integrity  of  its  promises.  Notorious  already  as  a 
treacherous  statesman,  he  met  not  with  faith  upon  the 
very  occasion  when,  perhaps,  he  intended  to  act  hon- 
estly ;  and,  moreover,  was  denied,  by  circumstances,  the 
opportunity  of  proving  the  sincerity  of  his  intentions,  by 
the  disclosure  of  his  real  motives. 

He,  therefore,  unwillingly  resolved  to  extort,  by  force 
of  arms,  what  he  could  not  obtain  by  negotiation.  Sud- 
denly assembling  his  troops,  he  appeared  before  Prague 
ere  the  Saxons  had  time  to  advance  to  its  relief.  After 
a  short  resistance,  the  treachery  of  some  Capuchins 
opened  the  gates  to  one  of  his  regiments  ;  and  the  gar- 
rison, who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  citadel,  soon  laid 
down  their  arms  upon  disgraceful  conditions.  Master 
of  the  capital,  he  hoped  to  carry  on  more  successfully 
his  negotiations  at  the  Saxon  court ;  but  even  while  he 
was  renewing  his  proposals  to  Arnheim,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  give  them  weight  by  striking  a  decisive  blow. 
He  hastened  to  seize  the  narrow  passes  between  Aussig 
and  Pirna,  with  a  view  of  cutting  ofif  the  retreat  of  the 
Saxons  into  their  own  country  ;  but  the  rapidity  of  Arn- 
heinTs  operations  fortunately  extricated  them  from  the 
danger.  After  the  retreat  of  this  general,  Egra  and 
Leutmeritz,  the  last  strongholds  of  the  Saxons,  sur- 
rendered to  the  conqueror  :  and  the  whole  kingdom  was 
restored  to  its  legitimate  sovereign,  in  less  time  than  it 
had  been  lost. 

Wallenstein,  less  occupied  with  the  interests  of  his 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  233 


master,  than  with  the  furtherance  of  his  own  plans,  now 
purposed  to  carry  the  war  into  Saxony,  and  by  ravaging 
his  territories,  compel  the  elector  to  enter  into  a  private 
treaty  with  the  emperor,  or  rather  with  himself.  But, 
however  little  accustomed  he  was  to  make  his  will  bend 
to  circumstances,  he  now  perceived  the  necessity  of 
postponing  his  favorite  scheme  for  a  time,  to  a  more 
pressing  emergency.  While  he  was  driving  the  Saxons 
from  Bohemia',  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  been  gaining  the 
victories,  already  detailed,  on  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
and  carried  the  war  through  Franconia  and  Lusatia,  to 
the  frontiers  of  Bavaria.  Maximilian,  defeated  on  the 
Lech,  and  deprived  by  death  of  Count  Tilly,  his  best 
support,  urgently  solicited  the  emperor  to  send,  with  all 
speed,  the  Duke  of  Friedland  to  his  assistance,  from 
Bohemia,  and,  by  the  defense  of  Bavaria,  to  avert  the 
danger  from  Austria  itself.  He  also  made  the  same 
request  to  Wallenstein,  and  entreated  him,  till  he  could 
himself  come  with  the  main  force,  to  dispatch,  in  the 
mean  time,  a  few  regiments  to  his  aid.  Ferdinand 
seconded  the  request  with  all  his  influence,  and  one  mes- 
senger after  another  was  sent  to  Wallenstein,  urging  him 
to  move  toward  the  Danube. 

It  now  appeared  how  completely  the  emperor  had 
sacrificed  his  authority,  in  surrendering  to  another  the 
supreme  command  of  his  troops.  Indifferent  to  Maxi- 
milian's entreaties,  and  deaf  to  the  emperor's  repeated 
commands,  Wallenstein  remained  inactive  in  Bohemia, 
and  abandoned  the  elector  to  his  fate.  The  remem- 
brance of  the  evil  service  which  Maximilian  had  render- 
ed him  with  the  emperor,  at  the  Diet  at  Ratisbon,  was 
deeply  engraved  on  the  implacable  mind  of  the  duke,  and 
the  elector's  late  attempts  to  prevent  his  reinstatement 
were  no  secret  to  him.  The  moment  of  revenging  this 
affront  had  now  arrived,  and  Maximilian  was  doomed  to 
pay  dearly  for  his  folly,  in  provoking  the  most  revenge- 
ful of  men.  Wallenstein  maintained,  that  Bohemia  ought 
not  to  be  left  exposed,  and  that  Austria  could  not  be  bet- 
ter protected  than  by  allowing  the  Swedish  army  to 
waste  its  strength  before  the  Bavarian  fortresses.  Thus, 
by  the  arm  of  the  Swedes,  he  chastised  his  enemy  ;  and 
while  one  place  after  another  fell  into  their  hands,  he 
u  2 


23  4       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

allowed  the  elector  vainly  to  await  his  arrival  at  Ratisbon. 
It  was  only  when  the  complete  subjugation  of  Bohemia 
left  him  without  excuse,  and  the  conquests  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  in  Bavaria  threatened  Austria  itself,  that  he 
yielded  to  the  pressing  entreaties  of  the  elector  and  the 
emperor,  and  determined  to  effect  the  long  expected 
union  with  the  former;  an  event,  which,  according  to 
the  general  anticipation  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  would 
decide  the  fate  of  the  campaign. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  too  weak  in  numbers  to  cope 
even  with  Wallenstein's  force  alone,  naturally  dreaded 
the  junction  of  such  powerful  armies,  and  the  little 
energy  he  used  to  prevent  it  was  the  occasion  of  great 
surprise.  Apparently  he  reckoned  too  much  on  the 
hatred  which  alienated  the  leaders,  and  seemed  to  ren- 
der their  effectual  cooperation  improbable  ;  when  the 
event  contradicted  his  views,  it  was  too  late  to  repair  his 
error.  On  the  first  certain  intelligence  he  received  of 
their  designs,  he  hastened  to  the  Upper  Palatinate,  for 
the  purpose  of  intercepting  the  elector  :  but  the  latter 
had  already  arrived  there,  and  the  junction  had  been 
effected  at  Egra. 

This  frontier  town  had  been  chosen  by  Wallenstein, 
for  the  scene  of  his  triumph  over  his  former  rival.  Not 
content  with  having  seen  him,  as  it  were,  a  suppliant  at 
his  feet,  he  imposed  upon  him  the  hard  condition  of 
leaving  his  territories  in  his  rear  exposed  to  the  enemy, 
and  declaring,  by  this  long  march  to  meet  him,  the  ne- 
cessity and  distress  to  which  he  was  reduced.  Even  to 
this  humiliation,  the  haughty  prince  patiently  submitted. 
It  had  cost  him  a  severe  struggle  to  ask  for  protection  of 
the  man  who,  if  his  own  wishes  had  been  consulted, 
would  never  have  had  the  power  of  granting  it :  but 
having  once  made  up  his  mind  to  it,  he  was  ready  to 
bear  all  the  annoyances  which  were  inseparable  from 
that  resolve,  and  sufficiently  master  of  himself  to  put  up 
with  petty  grievances,  when  an  important  end  was  in 
view. 

But  whatever  pains  it  had  cost  to  effect  this  junction, 
it  was  equally  difficult  to  settle  the  conditions  on  which 
it  was  to  be  maintained.  The  united  army  must  be 
placed  under  the  command  of  one  individual,  if  any 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  235 


object  was  to  be  gained  by  the  union,  and  each  general 
was  equally  averse  to  yield  to  the  superior  authority  of 
the  other.  If  Maximilian  rested  his  claim  on  his  electo- 
ral dignity,  the  nobleness  of  his  descent,  and  his  in- 
fluence in  the  empire,  Wallenstein's  military  renown, 
and  the  unlimited  command  conferred  on  him  by  the 
emperor,  gave  an  equally  strong  title  to  it.  If  it  was 
deeply  humiliating  to  the  pride  of  the  former  to  serve 
under  an  imperial  subject,  the  idea  of  imposing  laws  on 
so  imperious  a  spirit  flattered  in  the  same  degree 
the  haughtiness  of  Wallenstein.  An  obstinate  dispute 
ensued,  which,  however,  terminated  in  a  mutual  com- 
promise to  Wallenstein's  advantage.  To  him  was  as- 
signed the  unlimited  command  of  both  armies,  particu- 
larly in  battle,  while  the  elector  was  deprived  of  all 
power  of  altering  the  order  of  battle,  or  even  the  route 
of  the  army.  He  retained  only  the  bare  right  of  pun- 
ishing and  rewarding  his  own  troops,  and  the  free  use 
of  these,  when  not  acting  in  conjunction  with  the  impe- 
rialists. 

After  these  preliminaries  were  settled,  the  two  gen- 
erals at  last  ventured  upon  an  interview  ;  but  not  until 
they  had  mutually  promised  to  bury  the  past  in  oblivion, 
and  all  the  outward  formalities  of  a  reconciliation  had 
been  settled.  According  to  agreement,  they  publicly 
embraced  in  the  sight  of  their  troops,  and  made  mutual 
professions  of  friendship,  while  in  reality  the  hearts  of 
both  were  overflowing  with  malice.  Maximilian,  well 
versed  in  dissimulation,  had  sufficient  command  over 
himself,  not  to  betray  in  a  single  feature  his  real  feel- 
ings ;  but  a  malicious  triumph  sparkled  in  the  eyes  of 
Wallenstein,  and  the  constraint  which  was  visible  in  all 
his  movements,  betrayed  the  violence  of  the  emotion 
which  overpowered  his  proud  soul. 

The  combined  imperial  and  Bavarian  armies  amounted 
to  nearly  sixty  thousand  men,  chiefly  veterans.  Before 
this  force,  the  King  of  Sweden  was  not  in  a  condition 
to  keep  the  field.  As  his  attempt  to  prevent  their  junc- 
tion had  failed,  he  commenced  a  rapid  retreat  into  Fran- 
conia,  and  awaited  there  for  some  decisive  movement  on 
the  part  of  the  enemy,  in  order  to  form  his  own  plans. 
The  position  of  the  combined  armies  between  the  fron 


23t> 


SCHILLER^   THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


tiers  of  Saxony  and  Bavaria,  left  it  for  some  time  doubt- 
ful whether  they  would  remove  the  war  into  the  former, 
or  endeavor  to  drive  the  Swedes  from  the  Danube,  and 
deliver  Bavaria.  Saxony  had  been  stripped  of  troops 
by  Arnheim,  who  was  pursuing  his  conquests  in  Silesia ; 
not  without  a  secret  design,  it  was  generally  supposed, 
of  favoring  the  entrance  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland  into 
that  electorate,  and  of  thus  driving  the  irresolute  John 
George  into  peace  with  the  emperor.  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  himself,  fully  persuaded  that  Wallenstein's  views 
were  directed  against  Saxony,  hastily  dispatched  a  strong 
reinforcement  to  the  assistance  of  his  confederate,  with 
the  intention,  as  soon  as  circumstances  would  allow,  of 
following  with  the  main  body.  But  the  movements  of 
Wallenstein's  army  soon  led  him  to  suspect  that  he 
himself  was  the  object  of  attack ;  and  the  duke's  march 
through  the  Upper  Palatinate  placed  the  matter  be- 
yond a  doubt.  The  question  now  was,  how  to  provide 
for  his  own  security ;  and  the  prize  was  no  longer  his 
supremacy,  but  his  very  existence.  His  fertile  genius 
must  now  supply  the  means,  not  of  conquest,  but  of 
preservation.  The  approach  of  the  enemy  had  sur- 
prised him  before  he  had  time  to  concentrate  his  troops, 
which  were  scattered  all  over  Germany,  or  to  summon 
his  allies  to  his  aid.  Too  weak  to  meet  the  enemy  in 
the  field,  he  had  no  choice  left,  but  either  to  throw 
himself  into  Nuremberg,  and  run  the  risk  of  being  shut 
up  in  its  walls,  or  to  sacrifice  that  city,  and  await  a  rein- 
forcement under  the  cannon  of  Donauwerth.  Indiffer- 
ent to  danger  or  difficulty,  while  he  obeyed  the  call  of 
humanity  or  honor,  he  chose  the  first  without  hesitation, 
firmly  resolved  to  bury  himself  with  his  whole  army 
under  the  ruins  of  Nuremberg,  rather  than  to  purchase 
his  own  safety  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  confederates. 

Measures  were  immediately  taken  to  surround  the 
city  and  suburbs  with  redoubts,  and  to  form  an  in- 
trenched camp.  Several  thousand  workmen  imme- 
diately commenced  this  extensive  work,  and  an  heroic 
determination  to  hazard  life  and  property  in  the  com- 
mon cause,  animated  the  inhabitants  of  Nuremberg.  A 
trench,  eight  feet  deep  and  twelve  broad,  surrounded 
the  whole  fortification  ;  the  lines  were  defended  by 


sciiiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


237 


redoubts  and  batteries,  the  gates  by  half-moons.  The 
river  Pegnitz,  which  flows  through  Nuremberg,  divided 
the  whole  camp  into  two  semicircles,  whose  communi- 
cation was  secured  by  several  bridges.  Above  three 
hundred  pieces  of  cannon  defended  the  town-walls  and 
the  intrenchments.  The  peasantry  from  the  neighbor- 
ing villages,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Nuremberg,  assisted 
the  Swedish  soldiers  so  zealously,  that  on  the  seventh 
day  the  army  was  able  to  enter  the  camp,  and,  in  a  fort- 
night, this  great  work  was  completed. 

While  these  operations  were  carried  on  without  the 
walls,  the  magistrates  of  Nuremberg  were  busily  occu- 
pied in  filling  the  magazines  with  provisions  and  ammu- 
nition for  a  long  siege.  Measures  were  taken,  at  the 
same  time,  to  secure  the  health  of  the  inhabitants,  which 
was  likely  to  be  endangered  by  the  conflux  of  so  many 
people  ;  cleanliness  was  enforced  by  the  strictest  regu- 
lations. In  order,  if  necessaiy,  to  support  the  king,  the 
youth  of  the  city  were  embodied  and  trained  to  arms, 
the  militia  of  the  town  considerably  reinforced,  and  a 
new  regiment  raised,  consisting  of  four-and-twenty 
names,  according  to  the  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Gus- 
tavus  had,  in  the  mean  time,  called  to  his  assistance  his 
allies,  Duke  William  of  Weimar,  and  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse  Cassel ;  and  ordered  his  generals  on  the  Rhine, 
in  Thuringia,  and  Lower  Saxony,  to  commence  their 
march  immediately,  and  join  him  with  their  troops  in 
Nuremberg.  His  army,  which  was  encamped  within 
the  lines,  did  not  amount  to  more  than  sixteen  thousand 
men,  scarcely  a  third  of  the  enemy. 

The  imperialists  had,  in  the  mean  time,  by  slow 
marches,  advanced  to  Neu  mark,  where  Wallenstein 
made  a  general  review.  At  the  sight  of  this  formidable 
force,  he  could  not  refrain  from  indulging  in  a  childish 
boast  :  M  In  four  days,"  said  he,  "  it  will  be  shown 
whether  I  or  the  King  of  Sweden  is  to  be  master  of  the 
world."  Yet,  notwithstanding  his  superiority,  he  did 
nothing  to  fulfill  his  promise  ;  and  even  let  slip  the  op- 
portunity of  crushing  his  enemy,  when  the  latter  had 
the  hardihood  to  leave  his  lines  to  meet  him.  "  Battles 
enough  have  been  fought,"  was  his  answer  to  those  who 
advised  him  to  attack  the  king,  "it  is  now  time  to  try 


238      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


another  method."  Wallenstein's  well  founded  reputa 
tion  required  not  any  of  those  rash  enterprises  on  which 
younger  soldiers  rush,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  a  name. 
Satisfied  that  the  enemy's  despair  would  dearly  sell  a 
victory,  while  a  defeat  would  irretrievably  ruin  the  em- 
peror's affairs,  he  resolved  to  wear  out  the  ardor  of  his 
opponent  by  a  tedious  blockade,  and  by  thus  depriving 
him  of  every  opportunity  of  availing  himself  of  his  im- 
petuous bravery,  take  from  him  the  very  advantage 
which  had  hitherto  rendered  him  invincible.  Without 
making  any  attack,  therefore,  he  erected  a  strong  forti- 
fied camp  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pegnitz,  and  opposite 
Nuremberg ;  and,  by  this  well  chosen  position,  cut  off" 
from  the  city  and  the  camp  of  Gustavus  all  supplies 
from  Franconia,  Suabia,  and  Thuringia.  Thus  he  held 
in  siege  at  once  the  city  and  the  king,  and  flattered 
himself  with  the  hope  of  slowly,  but  surely,  wearing 
out  by  famine  and  pestilence  the  courage  of  his  opponent, 
whom  he  had  no  wish  to  encounter  in  the  field. 

Little  aware,  however,  of  the  resources  and  the 
strength  of  his  adversary,  Wallenstein  had  not  taken 
sufficient  precautions  to  avert  from  himself  the  fate 
he  was  designing  for  others.  From  the  whole  of  the 
neighboring  country,  the  peasantry  had  fled  with  their 
property  ;  and  what  little  provision  remained,  must  be 
obstinately  contested  with  the  Swedes.  The  king  spared 
the  magazines  within  the  town,  as  long  as  it  was  possible 
to  provision  his  army  from  without ;  and  these  forays 
produced  constant  skirmishes  between  the  Croats  and 
the  Swedish  cavalry,  of  which  the  surrounding  country 
exhibited  the  most  melancholy  traces.  The  necessaries 
of  life  must  be  obtained  sword  in  hand ;  and  the  foraging 
parties  could  not  venture  out  without  a  numerous  escort. 
And  when  this  supply  failed,  the  town  opened  its  maga- 
zines to  the  king,  but  Wallenstein  had  to  support  his 
troops  from  a  distance.  A  large  convoy  from  Bavaria 
was  on  its  way  to  him,  with  an  escort  of  a  thousand  men. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  having  received  intelligence  of  its 
approach,  immediately  sent  out  a  regiment  of  cavalry 
to  intercept  it ;  and  the  darkness  of  the  night  favored 
the  enterprise.  The  whole  convoy,  with  the  town  in 
which  it  was,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes;  the  im- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  239 


perial  escort  was  cut  to  pieces;  about  twelve  thousand 
cattle  carried  off ;  and  a  thousand  wagons,  loaded  with 
bread,  which  could  not  be  brought  away,  were  set  on 
fire.  Seven  regiments,  which  Wallen  stein  had  sent  for- 
ward to  Altdorp  to  cover  the  entrance  of  the  long  and 
anxiously  expected  convoy,  were  attacked  by  the  king, 
who  had,  in  like  manner,  advanced  to  cover  the  retreat 
of  his  cavalry,  and  routed,  after  an  obstinate  action,  being 
driven  back  into  the  imperial  camp,  with  the  loss  of  four 
hundred  men.  So  many  checks  and  difficulties,  and  so 
firm  and  unexpected  a  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  king, 
made  the  Duke  of  Friedland  repent  that  he  had  de- 
clined to  hazard  a  battle.  The  strength  of  the  Swedish 
camp  rendered  an  attack  impracticable ;  and  the  armed 
youth  of  Nuremberg  served  the  king  as  a  nursery  from 
which  he  could  supply  his  loss  of  troops.  The  want  of 
provisions,  which  began  to  be  felt  in  the  imperial  camp 
as  strongly  as  in  the  Swedish,  rendered  it  uncertain 
which  party  would  be  first  compelled  to  give  way. 

Fifteen  days  had  the  two  armies  now  remained  in 
view  of  each  other,  equally  defended  by  inaccessible 
intrenchments,  without  attempting  any  thing  more  than 
slight  attacks  and  unimportant  skirmishes.  On  both 
sides,  infectious  diseases,  the  natural  consequence  of 
bad  food  and  a  crowded  population,  had  occasioned  a 
greater  loss  than  the  sword.  And  this  evil  daily  increased. 
But,  at  length,  the  long  expected  succors  arrived  in  the 
Swedish  camp ;  and  by  this  strong  reinforcement,  the 
king  was  now  enabled  to  obey  the  dictates  of  his  native 
courage,  and  to  break  the  chains  which  had  hitherto 
fettered  him. 

In  obedience  to  his  requisitions,  the  Duke  of  Weimar 
had  hastily  drawn  together  a  corps  from  the  garrisons  in 
Lower  Saxony  and  Thuringia,  which,  at  Schweinfurt 
in  Franconia,  was  joined  by  four  Saxon  regiments,  and 
at  Kitzingen  b}'  the  corps  of  the  Rhine,  which  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse,  and  the  Palatine  of  Birkenfeld,  dispatch- 
ed to  the  relief  of  the  king.  The  chancellor,  Oxenstiern, 
undertook  to  lead  this  force  to  its  destination.  After 
being  joined  at  Windsheim  by  the  Duke  of  Weimar 
himself,  and  the  Swedish  general,  Banner,  he  advanced, 
by  rapid  marches,  to  Pruck  and  Eltersdorf,  where  be 


240 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


passed  the  Rednitz,  and  reached  the  Swedish  camp  in 
safety.  This  reinforcement  amounted  to  nearly  fifty 
thousand  men.  and  was  attended  by  a  train  of  sixty 
pieces  of  cannon,  and  four  thousand  baggage  wagons. 
Gustavus  now  saw  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of 
nearly  seventy  thousand  strong,  without  reckoning  the 
militia  of  Nuremberg,  which,  in  case  of  necessity,  could 
bring  into  the  field  about  thirty  thousand  fighting  men  ; 
a  formidable  force,  opposed  to  another  not  less  formida- 
ble. The  war  seemed  at  length  compressed  to  the  point 
of  a  single  battle,  which  was  to  decide  its  fearful  issue. 
With  divided  sympathies,  Europe  looked  with  anxiety 
to  this  scene,  where  the  whole  strength  of  the  two  con- 
tending parties  was  fearfully  drawn,  as  it  were,  to  a 
focus. 

If,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Swedish  succors,  a  want 
of  provisions  had  been  felt,  the  evil  was  now  fearfully 
increased  to  a  dreadful  height  in  both  camps,  for  Wallen- 
stein had  also  received  reinforcements  from  Bavaria. 
Beside  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  con- 
fronted to  each  other,  and  more  than  fifty  thousand 
horses,  in  the  two  armies,  and  beside  the  inhabitants  of 
Nuremberg,  whose  number  far  exceeded  the  Swedish 
army,  there  were  in  the  camp  of  Wallenstein  about 
fifteen  thousand  women,  with  as  many  drivers,  and 
nearly  the  same  number  in  that  of  the  Swedes.  The 
custom  of  the  time  permitted  the  soldier  to  carry  his 
family  with  him  to  the  field.  A  number  of  prostitutes 
followed  the  imperialists ;  while,  with  the  view  of  pre- 
venting such  excesses,  Gustavus's  care  for  the  morals  of 
his  soldiers  promoted  marriages.  For  the  rising  genera- 
tion, who  had  this  camp  for  their  home  and  country, 
regular  military  schools  were  established,  which  educated 
a  race  of  excellent  warriors,  by  which  means  the  army 
might  in  a  manner  recruit  itself  in  the  course  of  a  long 
campaign.  No  wonder,  then,  if  these  wandering  nations 
exhausted  every  territory  in  which  they  encamped,  and 
by  their  immense  consumption  raised  the  necessaries  of 
life  to  an  exorbitant  price.  All  the  mills  of  Nuremberg 
were  insufficient  to  grind  the  corn  required  for  each  day ; 
and  fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  bread,  which  were  daily 
delivered  by  the  town  into  the  Swedish  camp,  excited, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


241 


without  allaying,  the  hunger  of  the  soldiers.  The 
laudable  exertions  of  the  magistrates  of  Nuremberg 
could  not  prevent  the  greater  part  of  the  horses  from 
dying  for  want  of  forage,  while  the  increasing  mortality 
in  the  camp  consigned  more  than  one  hundred  men 
daily  to  the  grave. 

To  put  an  end  to  these  distresses,  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
relying  on  his  numerical  superiority,  left  his  lines  on  the 
twenty-fifth  day,  forming  before  the  enemy  in  order  of 
battle,  while  he  cannonaded  the  duke's  camp  from  three 
batteries  erected  on  the  side  of  the  Rednitz.  But  the 
duke  remained  immovable  in  his  intrenchments,  and  con- 
tented himself  with  answering  this  challenge  by  a  distant 
fire  of  cannon  and  musketry.  His  plan  was  to  wear  out 
the  king  by  his  inactivity,  and  by  the  force  of  famine 
to  overcome  his  resolute  determination  ;  and  neither  the 
remonstrances  of  Maximilian,  and  the  impatience  of  his 
army,  nor  the  ridicule  of  his  opponent,  could  shake  his 
purpose.  Gustavus,  deceived  in  his  hope  of  forcing  a 
battle,  and  compelled  by  his  increasing  necessities,  now 
attempted  impossibilities,  and  resolved  to  storm  a  posi- 
tion which  art  and  nature  had  combined  to  render  im- 
pregnable. 

Intr  usting  his  own  camp  to  the  militia  of  Nuremberg, 
on  the  fifty-eighth  day  of  his  encampment  (the  festival 
of  St.  Bartholomew),  he  advanced  in  full  order  of  battle, 
and  passing  the  Rednitz  at  Furth,  easily  drove  the  en- 
emy's outposts  before  him.  The  main  army  of  the  im- 
perialists was  posted  on  the  steep  heights  between  the 
Biber  and  the  Rednitz,  called  the  Old  Fortress  and 
Altenberg ;  while  the  camp  itself,  commanded  by  these 
eminences,  spread  out  immeasurably  along  the  plain. 
On  these  heights,  the  whole  of  the  artillery  was  placed. 
Deep  trenches  surrounded  inaccessible  redoubts,  while 
thick  barricadoes,  with  pointed  palisades,  defended  the 
approaches  to  the  heights,  from  the  summits  of  which, 
Wallenstein  calmly  and  securely  discharged  the  light- 
nings of  his  artillery  from  amid  the  dark  thunder-clouds 
of  smoke.  A  destructive  fire  of  musketry  was  main- 
tained behind  the  breastworks,  and  a  hundred  pieces  of 
cannon  threatened  the  desperate  assailant  with  certain 
destruction.  Against  this  dangerous  post  Gustavus  now 
16  X 


242         SCHILLER  S  THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


directed  his  attack  ;  five  hundred  musketeers,  supported 
by  a  few  infantry  (for  a  greater  number  could  not  act  in 
the  narrow  space),  enjoyed  theunenvied  privilege  of  first 
throwing  themselves  into  the  open  jaws  of  death.  The 
assault  was  furious,  the  resistance  obstinate.  Exposed 
to  the  whole  fire  of  the  enemy's  artillery,  and  infuriate 
by  the  prospect  of  inevitable  death,  these  determined 
warriors  rushed  forward  to  storm  the  heights ;  which, 
in  an  instant  converted  into  a  flaming  volcano,  discharged 
on  them  a  shower  of  shot.  At  the  same  moment,  the 
heavy  cavalry  rushed  forward  into  the  openings  which 
the  artillery  had  made  in  the  close  ranks  of  the  assail- 
ants, and  divided  them  ;  till  the  intrepid  band,  conquered 
by  the  strength  of  nature  and  of  man,  took  to  flight, 
leaving  a  hundred  dead  upon  the  field.  To  Germans 
had  Gustavus  yielded  this  post  of  honor.  Exasperated 
at  their  retreat,  he  now  led  on  his  Finlanders  to  the 
attack,  thinking,  by  their  northern  courage,  to  shame 
the  cowardice  of  the  Germans.  But  they,  also,  after  a 
similar  hot  reception,  yielded  to  the  superiority  of  the 
enemy;  and  a  third  regiment  succeeded  them  to  expe- 
rience the  same  success.  This  was  replaced  by  a  fourth, 
a  fifth,  and  a  sixth ;  so  that  during  a  ten  hours'  action, 
every  regiment  was  brought  to  the  attack  to  retire  with 
bloody  loss  from  the  contest.  A  thousand  mangled 
bodies  covered  the  field ;  yet  Gustavus  undauntedly 
maintained  the  attack,  and  Wallenstein  held  his  position 
unshaken. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  sharp  contest  had  taken  place 
between  the  imperial  cavalry  and  the  left  wing  of  the 
Swedes,  which  was  posted  in  a  thicket  on  the  Rednitz, 
with  varying  success,  but  with  equal  intrepidity  and  loss 
on  both  sides.  The  Duke  of  Friedland  and  Prince 
Bernard  of  Weimar  had  each  a  horse  shot  under  them  ; 
the  king  himself  had  the  sole  of  his  boot  carried  off  by  a 
cannon  ball.  The  combat  wras  maintained  with  undi- 
minished obstinacy,  till  the  approach  of  night  separated 
the  combatants.  But  the  Swedes  had  advanced  too  far 
to  retreat  without  hazard.  While  the  king  was  seeking 
an  officer  to  convey  to  the  regiments  the  order  to  retreat, 
he  met  Colonel  Hepburn,  a  brave  Scotchman,  whose 
native  courage  alone  had  drawn  him  from  the  camp  to 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  243 


share  in  the  dangers  of  the  day.  Offended  with  the 
king  for  having,  not  long  before,  preferred  a  younger  offi- 
cer for  some  post  of  danger,  he  had  rashly  vowed  never 
again  to  draw  his  sword  for  the  king.  To  hiin  Gusta- 
vus  now  addressed  himself,  praising  his  courage,  and 
requesting  him  to  order  the  regiments  to  retreat.  "  Sire," 
replied  the  brave  soldier,  "  it  is  the  only  service  I  can  not 
refuse  to  your  majesty ;  for  it  is  a  hazardous  one,"  and 
immediately  hastened  to  carry  the  command.  One  of 
the  heights  above  the  old  fortress  had,  in  the  heat  of 
the  action,  been  carried  by  the  Duke  of  Weimar.  It 
commanded  the  hills  and  the  whole  camp.  But  the 
heavy  rain  which  fell  during  the  night  rendered  it  im- 
possible to  draw  up  the  cannon  ;  and  this  post,  which 
had  been  gained  with  so  much  bloodshed,  was  also  vol- 
untarily abandoned.  Diffident  of  fortune,  which  forsook 
him  on  this  decisive  day,  the  king  did  not  venture  the 
following  morning  to  renew  the  attack  with  his  exhausted 
troops  ;  and  vanquished  for  the  first  time,  even  because 
he  was  not  victor,  he  led  back  his  troops  over  the  Red- 
nitz.  Two  thousand  dead  which  he  left  behind  him 
on  the  field,  testified  to  the  extent  of  his  loss ;  and  the 
Duke  of  Friedland  remained  unconquered  within  his 
lines. 

For  fourteen  days  after  this  action,  the  two  armies 
still  continued  in  front  of  each  other,  each  in  the  hope 
that  the  other  would  be  the  first  to  give  way.  Every 
day  reduced  their  provisions,  and  as  scarcity  became 
greater,  the  excesses  of  the  soldiers,  rendered  furious, 
exercised  the  wildest  outrages  on  the  peasantry.  The 
increasing  distress  broke  up  all  discipline  and  order  in 
the  Swedish  camp  ;  and  the  German  regiments,  in  par- 
ticular, distinguished  themselves  for  the  ravages  they 
practiced  indiscriminately  on  friend  and  foe.  The  weak 
hand  of  a  single  individual  could  not  check  excesses, 
encouraged  by  the  silence,  if  not  the  actual  example,  of 
the  inferior  officers.  These  shameful  breaches  of  dis- 
cipline, on  the  maintenance  of  which  he  had  hitherto 
justly  prided  himself,  severely  pained  the  king ;  and  the 
vehemence  with  which  he  reproached  the  German  offi- 
cers for  their  negligence,  bespoke  the  liveliness  of  his 
emotion.    "  It  is  you  yourselves,  Germans,"  said  he, 


J244      Schiller's  tiihity  years'  war. 

44  that  rob  your  native  country,  and  ruin  your  own  con- 
federates in  the  faith.  As  God  is  my  judge,  I  abhor 
you,  I  loathe  you  :  my  heart  sinks  within,  even  when  I 
look  upon  you.  Ye  break  my  orders  ;  ye  are  the  cause 
that  the  world  curses  me,  that  the  tears  of  poverty  fol- 
low me,  that  complaints  ring  in  my  ear — '  The  king,  our 
friend,  does  us  more  harm  than  even  our  worst  ene- 
mies.' On  your  account  I  have  stripped  my  own  king- 
dom of  its  treasures,  and  spent  upon  you  more  than 
forty  tuns  of  gold  ;*  while  from  your  German  empire  I 
have  not  received  the  least  aid.  I  gave  you  a  share  of 
all  that  God  had  given  to  me  ;  and  had  ye  regarded  my 
orders,  I  would  have  gladly  shared  with  you  all  my 
future  acquisitions.  Your  want  of  discipline  convinces 
me  of  your  evil  intentions,  whatever  cause  I  might  oth- 
erwise have  to  applaud  your  bravery." 

Nuremberg  had  exerted  itself,  almost  beyond  its 
power,  to  subsist  for  eleven  weeks  the  vast  crowd  which 
was  compressed  within  its  boundaries  ;  but  its  means 
were  at  length  exhausted,  and  the  king's  more  numer- 
ous party  was  obliged  to  determine  on  a  retreat.  By 
the  casualties  of  war  and  sickness,  Nuremberg  had  lost 
more  than  ten  thousand  of  its  inhabitants,  and  Gustavus 
Adolphus  nearly  twenty  thousand  of  his  soldiers.  The 
fields  around  the  city  were  trampled  down,  the  villages 
lay  in  ashes,  the  plundered  peasantry  lay  faint  and  dy- 
ing on  the  highways ;  dead  bodies  infected  the  air,  and 
bad  food,  the  exhalations  from  so  dense  a  population, 
and  so  many  putrifying  carcasses,  together  with  the 
heat  of  the  Dog-days,  produced  a  desolating  pestilence, 
which  raged  among  men  and  beasts,  and  long  after  the 
retreat  of  both  armies,  continued  to  load  the  country 
with  misery  and  distress.  Affected  by  the  general  dis- 
trust, and  despairing  of  conquering  the  steady  determi- 
nation of  the  Duke  of  Friedland,  the  king  broke  up  his 
camp  on  the  8th  September,  leaving  in  Nuremberg  a 
sufficient  garrison.  He  advanced  in  full  order  of  battle 
before  the  enemy,  who  remained  motionless,  and  did 
not  attempt  in  the  least  to  harass  his  retreat.  His  route 
lay  by  the  Aisch  and  Windsheim  toward  Neustadt, 

*  A  tun  of  gold  in  Sweden  amounts  to  one  hundred  thousand 
rix  dollars. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  245 


where  lie  halted  five  days  to  refresh  his  troops,  and  also 
to  be  near  to  Nuremberg,  in  case  the  enemy  should 
make  an  attempt  upon  the  town.  But  Wallenstein,  as 
exhausted  as  himself,  had  only  awaited  the  retreat  of 
the  Swedes  to  commence  his  own.  Five  days  after- 
ward he  broke  up  his  camp  at  Zirndorf,  and  set  it  on 
fire.  A  hundred  columns  of  smoke,  rising  from  all  the 
burning  villages  in  the  neighborhood,  announced  his  re- 
treat, and  showed  the  city  the  fate  it  had  escaped.  His 
march,  which  was  directed  on  Forschiem,  was  marked 
by  the  most  frightful  ravages ;  but  he  was  too  far  ad- 
vanced to  be  overtaken  by  the  king.  The  latter  now 
divided  his  army,  which  the  exhausted  country  was  un- 
able to  support,  and  leaving  one  division  to  protect  Fran- 
conia,  with  the  other  he  prosecuted  in  person  his  con- 
quests in  Bavaria. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  imperial  Bavarian  army  had 
marched  into  the  bishopric  of  Bamberg,  where  the 
Duke  of  Friedland  a  second  time  mustered  his  troops. 
He  found  this  force,  which  so  lately  had  amounted  to 
sixty  thousand  men,  diminished  by  the  sword,  desertion, 
and  disease,  to  about  twenty-four  thousand,  and  of  these 
a  fourth  were  Bavarians.  Thus  had  the  encampments 
before  Nuremberg  weakened  both  parties  more  than 
two  great  battles  would  have  done,  apparently  without 
advancing  the  termination  of  the  war,  or  satisfying,  by 
any  decisive  result,  the  expectations  of  Europe.  The 
king's  conquests  in  Bavaria  were,  it  is  true,  checked  for 
a  time  by  this  diversion  before  Nuremberg,  and  Austria 
itself  secured  against  the  danger  of  immediate  invasion  ; 
but  by  the  retreat  of  the  king  from  that  city,  he  was 
again  left  at  full  liberty  to  make  Bavaria  the  seat  of  war. 
Indifferent  toward  the  fate  of  that  country,  and  weary 
of  the  restraint  which  his  union  with  the  elector  impo- 
sed upon  him,  the  Duke  of  Friedland  eagerly  seized  the 
opportunity  of  separating  from  this  burdensome  associ- 
ate, and  prosecuting,  with  renewed  earnestness,  his 
favorite  plans.  Still  adhering  to  his  purpose  of  detach- 
ing Saxony  from  its  Swedish  alliance,  he  selected  that 
country  for  his  winter-quarters,  hoping  by  his  destructive 
presence  to  force  the  elector  the  more  readily  into  his 
views. 

x  2 


246      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


No  conjuncture  could  be  more  favorable  for  his  de- 
signs. The  Saxons  had  invaded  Silesia,  where,  rein- 
forced by  troops  from  Brandenburg  and  Sweden,  they 
had  gained  several  advantages  over  the  emperor's  troops. 
Silesia  would  be  saved  by  a  diversion  against  the  elector 
in  his  own  territories,  and  the  attempt  was  the  more 
easy,  as  Saxony,  left  undefended  during  the  war  in 
Silesia,  lay  open  on  every  side  to  attack.  The  pretext 
of  rescuing  from  the  enemy  an  hereditary  dominion  of 
Austria,  would  silence  the  remonstrances  of  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria,  and,  under  the  mask  of  a  patriotic  zeal  for 
the  emperor's  interests,  Maximilian  might  be  sacrificed 
without  much  difficulty.  By  giving  up  the  rich  country 
of  Bavaria  to  the  Swedes,  he  hoped  to  be  left  unmolest- 
ed by  them  in  his  enterprise  against  Saxony,  while  the 
increasing  coldness  between  Gustavus  and  the  Saxon 
court  gave  him  little  reason  to  apprehend  any  extraor- 
dinary zeal  for  the  deliverance  of  John  George.  Thus 
a  second  time  abandoned  by  his  artful  protector,  the 
elector  separated  from  Wallenstein  at  Bamberg,  to  pro- 
tect his  defenseless  territory  with  the  small  remains  of 
his  troops,  while  the  imperial  army,  under  Wallenstein, 
directed  its  march  through  Bayreuth  and  Coburg  to- 
ward the  Thuringian  Forest. 

An  imperial  general,  Hoik,  had  previously  been  dis- 
patched into  Vogtland,  to  lay  waste  this  defenseless 
province  with  fire  and  sword :  he  was  soon  followed  by 
Gallas,  another  of  the  duke's  generals,  and  an  equally 
faithful  instrument  of  his  inhuman  orders.  Finally, 
Pappenheim,  too,  was  recalled  from  Lower  Saxony,  to 
reinforce  the  diminished  army  of  the  duke,  and  to  com- 
plete the  miseries  of  the  devoted  country.  Ruined 
churches,  villages  in  ashes,  harvests  willfully  destroyed, 
families  plundered,  and  murdered  peasants,  marked  the 
progress  of  these  barbarians,  under  whose  scourge  the 
whole  of  Thuringia,  Vogtland,  and  Meissen,  lay  defense- 
less. Yet  this  was  but  the  prelude  to  greater  suffer- 
ings, with  which  Wallenstein  himself,  at  the  head  of 
the  main  army,  threatened  Saxony.  After  having  left 
behind  him  fearful  monuments  of  his  fury,  in  his  march 
through  Franconia  and  Thuringia,  he  arrived  with  his 
whole  army  in  the  circle  of  Leipzig,  and  compelled  the 


SCHILLER* S  THIRTY    YEARS'   WAR.  247 


city,  after  a  short  resistance,  to  surrender.  His  design 
was  to  push  on  to  Dresden,  and,  by  the  conquest  of  the 
whole  country,  to  prescribe  laws  to  the  elector.  He 
had  already  approached  the  Mulda,  threatening  to  over- 
power the  Saxon  army,  which  had  advanced  as  far  as 
Torgau  to  meet  him,  when  the  King  of  Sweden's  arrival 
at  Erfurt  gave  an  unexpected  check  to  his  operations. 
Placed  between  the  Saxon  and  Swedish  armies,  which 
were  likely  to  be  further  reinforced  by  the  troops  of 
George,  Duke  of  Lunenburg,  from  Lower  Saxony,  he 
hastily  retired  upon  Merseburg,  to  form  a  junction  there 
with  Count  Pappenheim,  and  to  repel  the  further  ad- 
vance of  the  Swedes. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  witnessed,  with  great  uneasi- 
ness, the  arts  employed  by  Spain  and  Austria  to  detach 
his  allies  from  him.  The  more  important  his  alliance 
with  Saxony,  the  more  anxiety  the  inconstant  temper 
of  John  George  caused  him.  Between  himself  and  the 
elector,  a  sincere  friendship  could  never  subsist.  A 
prince,  proud  of  his  political  importance,  and  accus- 
tomed to  consider  himself  as  the  head  of  his  party, 
could  not  see  without  annoyance  the  interference  of  a 
foreign  power  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire  ;  and  nothing, 
but  the  extreme  danger  of  his  dominions,  could  over- 
come the  aversion  with  which  he  had  long  witnessed 
the  progress  of  this  unwelcome  intruder.  The  increas- 
ing influence  of  the  king  in  Germany,  his  authority  with 
the  Protestant  states,  the  unambiguous  proofs  which 
he  gave  of  his  ambitious  views,  which  were  of  a  charac- 
ter calculated  to  excite  the  jealousies  of  all  the  states  of 
the  empire,  awakened  in  the  elector's  breast  a  thousand 
anxieties,  which  the  imperial  emissaries  did  not  fail 
skillfully  to  keep  alive  and  cherish.  Every  arbitrary 
step  on  the  part  of  the  king,  every  demand,  however 
reasonable,  which  he  addressed  to  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  was  followed  by  bitter  complaints  from  the 
elector,  which  seemed  to  announce  an  approaching 
rupture.  Even  the  generals  of  the  two  powers,  when- 
ever they  were  called  upon  to  act  in  common,  mani- 
fested the  same  jealousy  as  divided  their  leaders.  John 
George's  natural  aversion  to  war,  and  a  lingering  at- 
tachment to  Austria,  favored  the  efforts  of  Arnheim ; 


248 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war. 


who,  maintaining  a  constant  correspondence  with  Wal- 
lenstein, labored  incessantly  to  effect  a  private  treaty 
between  his  master  and  the  emperor  ;  and  if  his  repre- 
sentations were  long  disregarded,  still  the  event  proved 
that  they  were  not  altogether  without  effect. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  naturally  apprehensive  of  the 
consequences  which  the  defection  of  so  powerful  an 
ally  would  produce  on  his  future  prospects  in  Germany, 
spared  no  pains  to  avert  so  pernicious  an  event ;  and 
his  remonstrances  had  hitherto  had  some  effect  upon 
the  elector.  But  the  formidable  power  with  which 
the  emperor  seconded  his  seductive  proposals,  and  the 
miseries  which,  in  the  case  of  hesitation,  he  threatened 
to  accumulate  upon  Saxony,  might  at  length  overcome 
the  resolution  of  the  elector,  should  he  be  left  exposed 
to  the  vengeance  of  his  enemies  ;  while  an  indifference 
to  the  fate  of  so  powerful  a  confederate  would  irrepara- 
bly destroy  the  confidence  of  the  other  allies  in  their 
protector.  This  consideration  induced  the  king  a  second 
time  to  yield  to  the  pressing  entreaties  of  the  elector, 
and  to  sacrifice  his  own  brilliant  prospects  to  the  safety 
of  this  ally.  He  had  already  resolved  upon  a  second 
attack  on  Ingolstadt ;  and  the  weakness  of  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria  gave  him  hopes  of  soon  forcing  this  exhausted 
enemy  to  accede  to  a  neutrality.  An  insurrection  of 
the  peasantry  in  Upper  Austria  opened  to  him  a  pas- 
sage into  that  country,  and  the  capital  might  be  in  his 
possession,  before  Wallenstein  could  have  time  to  ad- 
vance to  its  defense.  All  these  views  he  now  gave  up 
for  the  sake  of  an  ally,  who,  neither  by  his  services  nor 
his  fidelity,  was  worthy  of  the  sacrifice  ;  who,  on  the 
pressing  occasions  of  common  good,  had  steadily  adhered 
to  his  own  selfish  projects  ;  and  who  was  important,  not 
for  the  services  he  was  expected  to  render,  but  merely 
for  the  injuries  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  inflict.  Is  it 
possible,  then,  to  refrain  from  indignation,  when  we 
know  that,  in  this  expedition,  undertaken  for  the  benefit 
of  such  an  ally,  the  great  king  was  destined  to  terminate 
his  career  ? 

Rapidly  assembling  his  troops  in  Franconia,  he  fol- 
lowed the  route  of  Wallenstein  through  Thuringia. 
Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar,  who  had  been  dispatched  to 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


249 


act  against  Pappenheim,  joined  the  king  at  Armstadt, 
who  now  saw  himself  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand 
veterans.  At  Erfurt  he  took  leave  of  his  queen,  who 
was  not  again  to  behold  him,  save  in  his  coffin,  at  Weis- 
senfels.  Their  anxious  adieus  seemed  to  forebode  an 
eternal  separation. 

He  reached  Naumburg  on  the  1st  November,  1632, 
before  the  corps,  which  the  Duke  of  Friedland  had  dis- 
patched for  that  purpose,  could  make  itself  master  of 
that  place.  The  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  country- 
flocked  in  crowds  to  look  upon  the  hero,  the  avenger, 
the  great  king,  who,  a  year  before,  had  first  appeared  in 
that  quarter,  like  a  guardian  angel.  Shouts  of  joy  every- 
where attended  his  progress  ;  the  people  knelt  before 
him,  and  struggled  for  the  honor  of  touching  the  sheath 
of  his  sword,  or  the  hem  of  his  garment.  The  modest 
hero  disliked  this  innocent  tribute  which  a  sincerely 
grateful  and  admiring  multitude  paid  him.  "Is  it  not," 
said  he,  "as  if  this  people  would  make  a  god  of  me  ? 
Our  affairs  prosper,  indeed  ;  but  I  fear  the  vengeance 
of  Heaven  will  punish  us  for  this  presumption,  and  soon 
enough  reveal  to  this  deluded  multitude  my  human 
weakness  and  mortality  !"  How  amiable  does  Gustavus 
appear  before  us  at  this  moment,  when  about  to  leave 
us  forever !  Even  in  the  plenitude  of  success,  he 
honors  an  avenging  Nemesis,  declines  that  homage 
which  is  due  only  to  the  Immortal,  and  strengthens  his 
title  to  our  tears,  the  nearer  the  moment  approaches 
that  is  to  call  them  forth ! 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Duke  of  Friedland  had  deter- 
mined to  advance  to  meet  the  king,  as  far  as  Weissenfels, 
and  even  at  the  hazard  of  a  battle,  to  secure  his  winter- 
quarters  in  Saxony.  His  inactivity  before  Nuremberg 
had  occasioned  a  suspicion  that  he  was  unwilling  to 
measure  his  powers  with  those  of  the  Hero  of  the  North, 
and  his  hard-earned  reputation  would  be  at  stake,  if,  a 
second  time,  he  should  decline  a  battle.  His  present 
superiority  in  numbers,  though  much  less  than  what  it 
was  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege  of  Nuremberg,  was 
still  enough  to  give  him  hopes  of  victory,  if  he  could 
compel  the  king  to  give  battle  before  his  junction  with 
the  Saxons.    But  his  present  reliance  was  not  so  much 


250         SCHILLER^  THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


in  his  numerical  superiority,  as  in  the  predictions  of  his 
astrologer  Seni,  who  had  read  in  the  stars  that  the  good 
fortune  of  the  Swedish  monarch  would  decline  in  the 
month  of  November.  Beside,  between  Naumburg  and 
Weissenfels  there  was  also  a  range  of  narrow  defiles, 
formed  by  a  long,  mountainous  ridge,  and  the  river  Saal, 
which  ran  at  their  foot,  along  which  the  Swedes  could 
not  advance  without  difficulty,  and  which  might,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  few  troops,  be  rendered  almost  im- 
passable. If  attacked  there,  the  king  would  have  no 
choice  but  either  to  penetrate  with  great  danger  through 
the  defiles,  or  commence  a  laborious  retreat  through 
Thuringia,  and  to  expose  the  greater  part  of  his  army  to 
a  march  through  a  desert  country,  deficient  in  every 
necessary  for  their  support.  But  the  rapidity  with  which 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  taken  possession  of  Naumburg 
disappointed  this  plan,  and  it  was  now  Wallenstein  him- 
self who  awaited  the  attack. 

But  in  this  expectation  he  was  disappointed  :  for  the 
king,  instead  of  advancing  to  meet  him  at  Weissenfels, 
made  preparations  for  intrenching  himself  near  Naum- 
burg, with  the  intention  of  awaiting  there  the  reinforce- 
ments which  the  Duke  of  Lunenburg  was  bringing  up. 
Undecided  whether  to  advance  against  the  king  through 
the  narrow  passes  between  Weissenfels  and  Naumburg, 
or  to  remain  inactive  in  his  camp,  he  called  a  council  of 
war,  in  order  to  have  the  opinion  of  his  most  expe- 
rienced generals.  None  of  these  thought  it  prudent  to 
attack  the  king  in  his  advantageous  position.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  preparations  which  the  latter  made  to 
fortify  his  camp,  plainly  showed  that  it  was  not  his  in- 
tention soon  to  abandon  it.  But  the  approach  of  winter 
rendered  it  impossible  to  prolong  the  campaign,  and  by 
a  continued  encampment  to  exhaust  the  strength  of  the 
army,  already  so  much  in  need  of  repose.  All  voices 
were  in  favor  of  immediately  terminating  the  campaign  : 
and,  the  more  so,  as  the  important  city  of  Cologne  upon 
the  Rhine  was  threatened  by  the  Dutch,  while  the 
progress  of  the  enemy  in  Westphalia  and  the  Lower 
Unine  called  for  effective  reinforcements  in  that  quarter. 
Wallenstein  yielded  to  the  weight  of  these  arguments  : 
and  almost  convinced  that,  at  this  season,  he  had  no 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  251 


reason  to  apprehend  an  attack  from  the  king,  he  put  his 
troops  into  winter-quarters,  but  so  that,  if  necessary, 
they  might  be  rapidly  assembled.  Count  Pappenheim 
was  dispatched,  with  great  part  of  the  army,  to  the 
assistance  of  Cologne,  with  orders  to  take  possession,  on 
his  march,  of  the  fortress  of  Moritzburg,  in  the  territory 
of  Halle.  Different  corps  took  up  their  winter-quarters 
in  the  neighboring  towns,  to  watch,  on  all  sides,  the 
motions  of  the  enemy.  Count  Colleredo  guarded  the 
castle  of  Weissenfels,  and  Wallenstein  himself  encamped 
with  the  remainder  not  far  from  Merseburg,  between 
Flotzgaben  and  the  Saal,  from  whence  he  purposed  to 
march  to  Leipzig,  and  to  cut  off  the  communication  be- 
tween the  Saxons  and  the  Swedish  army. 

Scarcely  had  Gustavus  Adolphus  been  informed  of 
Pappenheim's  departure,  when,  suddenly  breaking  up 
his  camp  at  Naumburg,  he  hastened  with  his  whole 
force  to  attack  the  enemy,  now  weakened  to  one  half. 
He  advanced,  by  rapid  marches,  toward  Weissenfels, 
from  whence  the  news  of  his  arrival  quickly  reached 
the  enemy,  and  greatly  astonished  the  Duke  of  Fried- 
land.  But  a  speedy  resolution  was  now  necessary  ;  and 
the  measures  of  Wallenstein  were  soon  taken.  Though 
he  had  little  more  than  twelve  thousand  men  to  oppose 
to  the  twenty  thousand  of  the  enemy,  he  might  hope  to 
maintain  his  ground  until  the  return  of  Pappenheim, 
who  could  not  have  advanced  farther  than  Halle,  five 
miles  distant.  Messengers  were  hastily  dispatched  to 
recall  him,  while  Wallenstein  moved  forward  into  the 
wide  plain  between  the  Canal  and  Lützen,  where  he 
awaited  the  king  in  full  order  of  battle,  and,  by  this 
position,  cut  off  his  communication  with  Leipzig  and  the 
Saxon  auxiliaries. 

Three  cannon  shots,  fired  by  Count  Colleredo  from 
the  castle  of  Weissenfels,  announced  the  king's  ap- 
proach ;  and  at  this  concerted  signal,  the  light  troops  of 
the  Duke  of  Friedland,  under  the  command  of  the  Cro- 
atian general,  Isotani,  moved  forward  to  possess  them- 
selves of  the  villages  lying  upon  the  Rippach.  Their 
weak  resistance  did  not  impede  the  advance  of  the  ene- 
my, who  crossed  the  Rippach,  near  the  village  of  that 
name,  and  formed  in  line  below  Lützen,  opposite  the 


252       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


imperialists.  The  high  road  which  goes  from  Weissen- 
fels  to  Leipzig  is  intersected  between  Lützen  and  Mark- 
ranstädt by  the  canal  which  extends  from  Zeitz  to 
Merseburg,  and  unites  the  Elster  with  the  Saal.  On 
this  canal  rested  the  right  wing  of  the  imperialists,  and 
the  left  of  the  King  of  Sweden;  but  so  that  the  cavalry 
of  both  extended  themselves  along  the  opposite  side. 
To  the  northward,  behind  Lützen,  was  Wallenstein's 
right  wing,  and  to  the  south  of  that  town  was  posted 
the  left  wing  of  the  Swedes ;  both  armies  fronted  the 
high  road  which  ran  between  them,  and  divided  their 
order  of  battle  ;  but  the  evening  before  the  battle,  Wal- 
lenstein, to  the  great  disadvantage  of  his  opponent,  had 
possessed  himself  of  this  highway,  deepened  the  trenches 
which  ran  along  its  sides,  and  planted  them  with  mus- 
keteers, so  as  to  make  the  crossing  of  it  both  difficult 
and  dangerous.  Behind  these  again  was  erected  a  bat- 
tery of  seven  large  pieces  of  cannon,  to  support  the  fire 
from  the  trenches ;  and  at  the  windmills,  close  behind 
Lützen,  fourteen  smaller  field-pieces  were  ranged  on 
an  eminence,  from  which  they  could  sweep  the  greater 
part  of  the  plain.  The  infantry,  divided  into  no  more 
than  five  unwieldly  brigades,  was  drawn  up  at  the  dis- 
tance of  three  hundred  paces  from  the  road,  and  the 
cavalry  covered  the  flanks.  All  the  baggage  was  sent 
to  Lützen,  that  it  might  not  impede  the  movements  of 
the  army  ;  and  the  ammunition-wagons  alone  remained, 
which  were  placed  in  rear  of  the  line.  To  conceal  the 
weakness  of  the  imperialists,  all  the  followers  of  the 
camp  and  sutlers  were  mounted,  and  posted  on  the  left 
wing.  These  arrangements  were  made  during  the 
darkness  of  the  night ;  and  when  the  morning  dawned, 
eveiy  thing  was  in  readiness  for  the  reception  of  the 
enemy. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Gustavus  Adolphus 
appeared  on  the  opposite  plain,  and  formed  his  troops 
in  the  order  of  attack.  His  disposition  was  the  same 
as  that  which  had  been  so  successful  the  year  before  at 
Leipzig.  Small  squadrons  of  horse  were  interspersed 
among  the  divisions  of  the  infantry,  and  troops  of  mus- 
keteers placed  here  and  there  among  the  cavalry.  The 
army  was  arranged  in  two  lines,  the  Canal  on  the  right 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  253 


and  in  its  rear,  the  high  road  in  front,  and  the  town  on 
the  left.  In  the  center  the  infantry  was  formed,  under 
the  command  of  Count  Brahe ;  the  cavalry  on  the 
wings :  the  artillery  in  front.  To  the  German  hero, 
Bernard,  Duke  of  Weimar,  was  intrusted  the  command 
of  the  German  cavalry  of  the  left  wing ;  while,  on  the 
right,  the  king  led  on  the  Swedes  in  person,  in  order  to 
excite  the  emulation  of  the  two  nations  to  a  noble  com- 
petition. The  second  line  was  formed  in  the  same 
manner ;  and  behind  these  was  placed  the  reserve,  com- 
manded by  Henderson,  a  Scotchman. 

In  this  position  they  awaited  the  eventful  dawn  of 
morning,  to  begin  a  contest,  which  long  delay,  rather 
than  the  probability  of  decisive  consequences,  and  the 
picked  body,  rather  than  the  number  of  the  combatants, 
was  to  render  so  terrible  and  remarkable.  The  strain- 
ed expectation  of  Europe,  so  disappointed  before  Nu- 
remberg, was  now  to  be  gratified  on  the  plains  of  Lüt- 
zen. During  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  two  such 
generals,  so  equally  matched  in  renown  and  ability,  had 
not  before  been  pitted  against  each  other.  Never,  as 
yet,  had  daring  been  cooled  by  so  awful  a  hazard,  or 
hope  animated  by  so  glorious  a  prize.  Europe  was 
next  day  to  learn  who  was  her  greatest  general :  to- 
morrow, the  leader,  who  had  hitherto  been  invincible, 
must  acknowledge  a  victor.  This  morning  was  to  place 
it  beyond  a  doubt,  whether  the  victories  of  Gustavus  at 
Leipzig  and  on  the  Lech,  were  owing  to  his  own  mili- 
tary genius,  or  to  the  incompetency  of  his  opponent  ; 
whether  the  services  of  Wallenstein  were  to  vindicate 
the  emperor's  choice,  and  justify  the  high  price  at  winch 
they  had  been  purchased.  The  victory  was  as  yet 
doubtful,  but  certain  were  the  labor  and  the  bloodshed 
by  which  it  must  be  earned.  Every  private,  in  both 
armies,  felt  a  jealous  share  in  his  leader's  reputation, 
and  under  every  corslet  beat  the  same  emotions  that 
inflamed  the  bosoms  of  the  generals.  Each  army  knew 
the  enemy  to  which  it  was  to  be  opposed  :  and  the  anx- 
iety which  each  in  vain  attempted  to  repress,  was  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  their  opponent's  strength. 

At  last  the  fateful  morning  dawned  ;  but  an  impene- 
trable fog,  which  spread  over  the  plain,  delayed  the  at- 


254      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


tack  till  noon.  Kneeling  in  front  of  his  lines,  the  king 
offered  up  his  devotions  ;  and  the  whole  army,  at  the 
same  moment  dropping  on -their  knees,  burst  into  ;i 
moving  hymn,  accompanied  by  the  military  music.  The 
king  then  mounted  his  horse,  and,  clad  only  in  a  leathern 
doublet  and  surtout  (for  a  wound  he  had  formerly  re- 
ceived prevented  his  wearing  armor),  rode  along  the 
ranks,  to  animate  the  courage  of  his  troops  with  a  joyful 
confidence,  which,  however,  the  foreboding  presentiment 
of  his  own  bosom  contradicted.  "  God  with  us!"  was 
the  war-ciy  of  the  Swedes;  "Jesus  Maria!"  that  of 
the  imperialists.  About  eleven  the  fog  began  to  dis- 
perse, and  the  enemy  became  visible.  At  the  same 
moment  Lützen  was  seen  in  flames,  having  been  set  on 
fire  by  command  of  the  duke,  to  prevent  his  being  out- 
flanked on  that  side.  The  charge  was  now  sounded ; 
the  cavalry  rushed  upon  the  enemy,  and  the  infantry 
advanced  against  the  trenches. 

Received  by  a  tremendous  fire  of  musketry  and  heavy 
artillery,  these  intrepid  battalions  maintained  the  attack 
with  undaunted  courage,  till  the  enemy's  musketeers 
abandoned  their  posts,  the  trenches  were  passed,  the 
battery  carried  and  turned  against  the  enemy.  They 
pressed  forward  with  irresistible  impetuosity  ;  the  first 
of  the  five  imperial  brigades  was  immediately  routed, 
the  second  soon  after,  and  the  third  put  to  flight.  But 
here  the  genius  of  Wallenstein  opposed  itself  to  their 
progress.  With  the  rapidity  of  lightning  he  was  on  the 
spot  to  rally  his  discomfited  troops ;  and  his  powerful 
word  was  itself  sufficient  to  stop  the  flight  of  the  fugi- 
tives. Supported  by  three  regiments  of  cavalry,  the 
vanquished  brigades,  forming  anew,  faced  the  enemy, 
and  pressed  vigorously  into  the  broken  ranks  of  the 
Swedes.  A  murderous  conflict  ensued.  The  nearness 
of  the  enemy  left  no  room  for  firearms,  the  fury  of  the 
attack  no  time  for  loading ;  man  was  matched  to  man, 
the  useless  musket  exchanged  for  the  sword  and  pike, 
and  science  gave  way  to  desperation.  Overpowered  by 
numbers,  the  wearied  Swedes  at  last  retired  beyond  the 
trenches  ;  and  the  captured  batteiy  is  again  lost  by  the 
retreat.  A  thousand  mangled  bodies  already  strewed  the 
plain,  and  as  yet  not  a  single  step  of  ground  had  been  won. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


255 


In  the  mean  time  the  king's  right  wing,  led  by  him- 
self, had  fallen  upon  the  enemy's  left.  The  first  impet- 
uous shock  of  the  heavy  Finland  cuirassiers  dispersed 
the  lightly  mounted  Poles  and  Croats,  who  were  posted 
here,  and  their  disorderly  flight  spread  terror  and  con- 
fusion among  the  rest  of  the  cavalry.  At  this  moment 
notice  was  brought  the  king,  that  his  infantry  were  re- 
treating over  the  trenches,  and  also  that  his  left  wing, 
exposed  to  a  severe  fire  from  the  enemy's  cannon  post- 
ed at  the  windmills,  was  beginning  to  give  way.  With 
rapid  decision  he  committed  to  General  Horn  the  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy's  left,  while  he  flew,  at  the  head  of 
the  regiment  of  Steinbock,  to  repair  the  disorder  of  his 
right  wing.  His  noble  charger  bore  him  with  the  ve- 
locity of  lightning  across  the  trenches,  but  the  squadrons 
that  followed  could  not  come  on  with  the  same  speed, 
and  only  a  few  horsemen,  among  whom  was  Francis 
Albert,  Duke  of  Saxe-Lauenburg,  were  able  to  keep  up 
with  the  king.  He  rode  directly  to  the  place  where  his 
infantry  were  most  closely  pressed,  and  while  he  was 
reconnoitring  the  enemy's  line  for  an  exposed  point  of 
attack,  the  shortness  of  his  sight  unfortunately  led  him 
too  close  to  their  ranks.  An  imperial  gefreyter,*  re- 
marking that  every  one  respectfully  made  way  for  him 
as  he  rode  along,  immediately  ordered  a  musketeer  to 
take  aim  at  him.  "Fire  at  him  yonder,"  said  he,  "  that 
must  be  a  man  of  consequence."  The  soldier  fired,  and 
the  king's  left  arm  was  shattered.  At  that  moment  his 
squadron  came  hurrying  up,  and  a  confused  cry  of  "the 
king  bleeds  !  the  king  is  shot!"  spread  terror  and  con- 
sternation through  all  the  ranks.  "It  is  nothing — fol- 
low me,"  cried  the  king,  collecting  his  whole  strength ; 
but  overcome  by  pain,  and  nearly  fainting,  he  requested 
the  Duke  of  Lauenburg,  in  French,  to  lead  him  unob- 
served out  of  the  tumult.  While  the  duke  proceeded 
toward  the  right  wing  with  the  king,  making  a  long  cir- 
cuit to  keep  this  discouraging  sight  from  the  disordered 
infantry,  his  majesty  received  a  second  shot  through  the 
back,  which  deprived  him  of  his  remaining  strength. 
"Brother,"  said  he,  with  a  dying  voice,  "I  have  enough! 

*  Gefreyter,  a  person  exempt  from  watching  duty,  nearly  cor 
responding  to  the  corporal. 


256       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


look  only  to  your  own  life."  At  the  same  moment  he 
fell  from  his  horse  pierced  by  several  more  shots  ;  and 
abandoned  by  all  his  attendants,  he  breathed  his  last 
amid  the  plundering  hands  of  the  Croats.  His  charger, 
flying  without  its  rider,  and  covered  with  blood,  soon 
made  known  to  the  Swedish  cavalry  the  fall  of  their 
king.  They  rushed  madly  forward  to  rescue  his  sacred 
remains  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  A  murderous 
conflict  ensued  over  the  body,  till  his  mangled  remains 
were  buried  beneath  a  heap  of  slain. 

The  mournful  tidings  soon  ran  through  the  Swedish 
army  ;  but,  instead  of  destroying  the  courage  of  these 
brave  troops,  it  but  excited  it  into  a  new,  a  wild,  and  con- 
suming flame.  Life  had  lessened  in  value,  now  that 
the  most  sacred  life  of  all  was  gone  ;  death  had  no  ter- 
rors for  the  lowly  since  the  anointed  head  was  not 
spared.  With  the  fury  of  lions  the  Upland,  Smäland, 
Finland,  East  and  West  Gothland  regiments  rushed  a 
second  time  upon  the  left  wing  of  the  enemy,  which, 
already  making  but  feeble  resistance  to  General  Horn, 
was  now  entirely  beaten  from  the  field.  Bernard,  Duke 
of  Saxe- Weimar,  gave  to  the  bereaved  Swedes  a  noble 
leader  in  his  own  person ;  and  the  spirit  of  Gustavus 
led  his  victorious  squadrons  anew.  The  left  wing  quick- 
ly formed  again,  and  vigorously  pressed  the  right  of  the 
imperialists.  The  artillery  at  the  windmills,  which  had 
maintained  so  murderous  a  fire  upon  the  Swedes,  was 
captured  and  turned  against  the  enemy.  The  center, 
also,  of  the  Swedish  infantry,  commanded  by  the  duke 
and  Knyphausen,  advanced  a  second  time  against  the 
trenches,  which  they  successfully  passed,  and  retook 
the  batteiy  of  seven  cannons.  The  attack  was  now  re- 
newed with  redoubled  fury  upon  the  heavy  battalions  of 
the  enemy's  center ;  their  resistance  became  gradually 
less,  and  chance  conspired  with  Swedish  valor  to  com- 
plete the  defeat.  The  imperial  powder- wagons  took 
fire,  and,  with  a  tremendous  explosion,  grenades  and 
bombs  filled  the  air.  The  enemy,  now  in  confusion, 
thought  they  were  attacked  in  the  rear,  while  the 
Swedish  brigades  pressed  them  in  front.  Their  cour- 
age began  to  fail  them.  Their  left  wing  was  already 
beaten,  their  right  wavering,  and  their  artillery  in  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  257 


enemy's  hands.  The  battle  seemed  to  be  almost  de- 
cided ;  another  moment  would  decide  the  fate  of  the 
day,  when  Pappenheim  appeared  on  the  field,  with  his 
cuirassiers  and  dragoons ;  all  the  advantages  already 
gained  were  lost,  and  the  battle  was  to  be  fought  anew. 

The  order  which  recalled  that  general  to  Lützen 
had  reached  him  in  Halle,  while  his  troops  were  still 
plundering  the  town.  It  was  impossible  to  collect  the 
scattered  infantry  with  that  rapidity  which  the  urgency 
of  the  order  and  Pappenheim's  impatience  required. 
Without  waiting  for  it,  therefore,  he  ordered  eight  regi- 
ments of  cavalry  to  mount ;  and  at  their  head  he  gallop- 
ed at  full  speed  for  Lützen  to  share  in  the  battle.  He 
arrived  in  time  to  witness  the  flight  of  the  imperial  right 
wing,  which  Gustavus  Horn  was  driving  from  the  field, 
and  to  be  at  first  involved  in  their  rout.  But  with  rapid 
presence  of  mind  he  rallied  the  flying  troops,  and  led 
them  once  more  against  the  enemy.  Carried  away  by 
his  wild  bravery,  and  impatient  to  encounter  the  king, 
who  he  supposed  was  at  the  head  of  this  wing,  he  burst 
furiously  upon  the  Swedish  ranks,  which,  exhausted  by 
victory,  and  inferior  in  numbers,  were,  after  a  noble 
resistance,  overpowered  by  this  fresh  body  of  ene- 
mies. Pappenheim's  unexpected  appearance  revived 
the  drooping  courage  of  the  imperialists,  and  the  Duke 
of  Friedland  quickly  availed  himself  of  the  favorable 
moment  to  re-form  his  line.  The  closely  serried  bat- 
talions of  the  Swedes  were,  after  a  tremendous  conflict, 
again  driven  across  the  trenches  ;  and  the  battery,  which 
had  been  twice  lost,  again  rescued  from  their  hands. 
The  whole  yellow  regiment,  the  finest  of  all  that  dis- 
tinguished themselves  in  this  dreadful  day,  lay  dead  on 
the  field,  covering  the  ground  almost  in  the  same  excel- 
lent order  which,  when  alive,  they  maintained  with  such 
unyielding  courage.  The  same  fate  befell  another  regi- 
ment of  blues,  which  Count  Piccolomini  attacked  with 
the  imperial  cavalry,  and  cut  down  after  a  desperate 
contest.  Seven  times  did  this  intrepid  general  renew 
the  attack  ;  seven  horses  were  shot  under  him,  and  he 
himself  was  pierced  with  six  musket  balls  ;  yet  he  would 
not  leave  the  field,  until  he  was  carried  along  in  the  gen- 
eral rout  of  the  whole  army.    Wallenstein  himself  was 


258      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


seen  riding  through  his  ranks  with  cool  intrepidity,  amid 
a  shower  of  balls,  assisting  the  distressed,  encouraging 
the  valiant  with  praise,  and  the  wavering  by  his  fearful 
glance.  Around  and  close  by  him  his  men  were  falling 
thick,  and  his  own  -mantle  was  perforated  by  several 
shots.  But  avenging  destiny  this  day  protected  that 
breast,  for  which  another  weapon  was  reserved  ;  on  the 
same  field  where  the  noble  Gustavus  expired,  Wallen- 
stein was  not  allowed  to  terminate  his  guilty  career. 

Less  fortunate  was  Pappenheim,  the  Telamon  of  the 
army,  the  bravest  soldier  of  Austria  and  the  Church. 
An  ardent  desire  to  encounter  the  king  in  person  car- 
ried this  daring  leader  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  where 
he  thought  his  noble  opponent  was  most  surely  to  be  met. 
Gustavus  had  also  expressed  a  wish  to  meet  his  brave 
antagonist,  but  these  hostile  wishes  remained  ungrati- 
fied ;  death  first  brought  together  these  two  great  heroes. 
Two  musket-balls  pierced  the  breast  of  Pappenheim  ; 
and  his  men  forcibly  carried  him  from  the  field.  While 
they  were  conveying  him  to  the  rear,  a  murmur  reached 
him,  that  he  whom  he  had  sought,  lay  dead  upon  the 
plain.  When  the  truth  of  the  report  was  confirmed  to 
him,  his  look  became  brighter,  his  dying  eye  sparkled 
with  a  last  gleam  of  joy.  "  Tell  the  Duke  of  Fried- 
land,"  said  he,  "  that  I  lie  without  hope  of  life,  but  that 
I  die  happy,  since  I  know  that  the  implacable  enemy  of 
my  religion  has  fallen  on  the  same  day." 

With  Pappenheim,  the  good  fortune  of  the  imperial- 
ists departed.  The  cavalry  of  the  right  wing,  already 
beaten,  and  only  rallied  by  his  exertions,  no  sooner 
missed  their  victorious  leader,  than  they  gave  up  eveiy 
thing  for  lost,  and  abandoned  the  field  of  battle  in  spirit- 
less despair.  The  right  wing  fell  into  the  same  confu- 
sion, with  the  exception  of  a  few  regiments,  which  the 
bravery  of  their  colonels,  Götz,  Terzky  ,Colleredo,  and 
Piccolomini,  compelled  to  keep  their  ground.  The 
Swedish  infantry,  with  prompt  determination,  profited 
by  the  enemy's  confusion.  To  fill  up  the  gaps  which 
death  had  made  in  the  frontline,  they  formed  both  lines 
into  one,  and  with  it  made  the  final  and  decisive  charge. 
A  third  time  they  crossed  the  trenches,  and  the  third 
time  they  captured  the  battery.    The  sun  was  setting 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


259 


when  the  two  lines  closed.  The  strife  grew  hotter  as 
it  drew  to  an  end  ;  the  last  efforts  of  strength  were  mu- 
tually exerted,  and  skill  and  courage  did  their  utmost  to 
repair,  in  these  precious  moments,  the  fortune  of  the 
day.  It  was  in  vain ;  despair  endows  every  one  with 
superhuman  strength  ;  no  one  can  conquer,  no  one  will 
give  way.  The  art  of  war  seemed  to  exhaust  its  powers 
on  one  side,  only  to  unfold  some  new  and  untried  master- 
piece of  skill  on  the  other.  Night  and  darkness  at  last 
put  an  end  to  the  fight,  before  the  fury  of  the  comba- 
tants was  exhausted  ;  and  the  contest  only  ceased,  when 
no  one  could  any  longer  find  an  antagonist.  Both  armies 
separated,  as  if  by  tacit  agreement;  the  trumpets 
sounded,  and  each  party,  claiming  the  victoiy,  quitted  the 
field. 

The  artillery  on  both  sides,  as  the  horses  could  not  be 
found,  remained  all  night  upon  the  field,  at  once  the  re- 
ward, and  the  evidence  of  victory,  to  him  who  should 
hold  it.  Wallenstein,  in  his  haste  to  leave  Leipzig  and 
Saxony,  forgot  to  remove  his  part.  Not  long  after  the 
battle  was  ended,  Pappenheim's  infantry,  who  had  been 
unable  to  follow  the  rapid  movements  of  their  general, 
and  who  amounted  to  six  regiments,  marched  on  the 
field,  but  the  work  was  done.  A  few  hours  earlier,  so 
considerable  a  reinforcement  would,  perhaps,  have  de- 
cided the  day  in  favor  of  the  imperialists  ;  and,  even  now, 
by  remaining  on  the  field,  they  might  have  saved  the 
duke's  artillery,  and  made  a  prize  of  that  of  the  Swedes. 
But  they  had  received  no  orders  to  act ;  and,  uncertain 
as  to  the  issue  of  the  battle,  they  retired  to  Leipzig, 
where  they  hoped  to  join  the  main  body. 

The  Duke  of  Friedland  had  retreated  thither,  and  was 
followed  on  the  morrow  by  the  scattered  remains  of  his 
army,  without  artillery,  without  colors,  and  almost  with- 
out arms.  The  Duke  of  Weimar,  it  appears,  after  the 
toils  of  this  bloody  day,  allowed  the  Swedish  army  some 
repose,  between  Lützen  and  Weissenfels,  near  enough 
to  the  field  of  battle  to  oppose  any  attempt  the  enemy 
might  make  to  recover  it.  Of  the  two  armies,  more 
than  nine  thousand  men  lay  dead  ;  a  still  greater  number 
were  wounded,  and  among  the  imperialists,  scarcely  a 
man  escaped  from  the  field  uninjured.   The  entire  plain, 


2Ü0 


Schiller's*  thirty  years'  war. 


from  Lutzen  to  the  Canal,  was  strewed  with  the  wound- 
ed, the  dying,  and  the  dead.  Many  of  the  principal 
nobility  had  fallen  on  both  sides.  Even  the  Abbot  of 
Fulda,  who  had  mingled  in  the  combat  as  a  spectator, 
paid  for  his  curiosity,  and  his  ill-timed  zeal,  with  his  life. 
History  says  nothing  of  prisoners  ;  a  further  proof  of 
the  animosity  of  the  combatants,  who  neither  gave  nor 
took  quarter. 

Pappenheim  died  the  next  day  of  his  wounds  at  Leip- 
zig ;  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  imperial  army,  which  this 
brave  warrior  had  so  often  led  on  to  victory.  The  battle 
of  Prague,  where,  together  with  Wallenstein,  he  was 
present  as  colonel,  was  the  beginning  of  his  heroic  career. 
Dangerously  wounded,  with  a  few  troops,  he  made  an 
impetuous  attack  on  a  regiment  of  the  enemy,  and  lay 
for  several  hours  mixed  with  the  dead  upon  the  field, 
beneath  the  weight  of  his  horse,  till  he  was  discovered 
by  some  of  his  own  men  in  plundering.  With  a  small 
force  he  defeated,  in  three  different  engagements,  the 
rebels  in  Upper  Austria,  though  forty  thousand  strong. 
At  the  battle  of  Leipzig,  he  for  a  long  time  delayed  the 
defeat  of  Tilly  by  his  bravery,  and  led  the  arms  of  the 
emperor,  on  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine,  to  victory.  The 
wild,  impetuous  fire  of  his  temperament,  which  no  dan- 
ger, however  apparent,  could  cool,  or  impossibilities 
check,  made  him  the  most  powerful  arm  of  the  imperial 
force,  but  unfitted  him  for  acting  at  its  head.  The  battle 
of  Leipzig,  if  Tilly  may  be  believed,  was  lost  through 
his  rash  ardor.  At  the  destruction  of  Magdeburg,  his 
hands  were  deeply  steeped  in  blood :  war  rendered 
savage  and  ferocious  his  disposition,  which  had  been  cul- 
tivated by  youthful  studies  and  various  travels.  On  his 
forehead,  two  red  streaks,  like  swords,  were  percepti- 
ble, with  which  nature  had  marked  him  at  his  very  birth. 
Even  in  his  later  years,  these  became  visible,  as  often  as 
his  blood  was  stirred  by  passion ;  and  superstition  easily 
persuaded  itself,  that  the  future  destiny  of  the  man  was 
thus  impressed  upon  the  forehead  of  the  child.  As  a 
faithful  servant  of  the  House  of  Austria,  he  had  the 
strongest  claims  on  the  gratitude  of  both  its  lines,  but 
he  did  not  survive  to  enjoy  the  most  brilliant  proof  of 
their  regard.    A  messenger  was  already  on  his  way  from 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  2G1 


Madrid,  bearing  to  him  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
when  depth  overtook  him  at  Leipzig. 

Though  Te  Deum,  in  all  Spanish  and  Austrian  lands, 
was  sung  in  honor  of  a  victory,  Wallenstein  himself,  by 
the  haste  with  which  he  quitted  Leipzig,  and  soon  after 
all  Saxony,  and  by  renouncing  his  original  design  of  fix- 
ing there  his  winter-quarters,  openly  confessed  his  de- 
feat. It  is  true  he  made  one  more  feeble  attempt  to 
dispute,  even  in  his  flight,  the  honor  of  victory,  by  send- 
ing out  his  Croats  next  morning  to  the  field  ;  but  the 
sight  of  the  Swedish  army  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle 
immediately  dispersed  these  flying  bands,  and  Duke 
Bernard,  by  keeping  possession  of  the  field,  and  soon 
after  by  the  capture  of  Leipzig,  maintained  indisputably 
his  claim  to  the  title  of  victor. 

But  it  was  a  dear  conquest,  a  dearer  triumph  !  It  was 
not  till  the  fury  of  the  contest  was  over,  that  the  full 
weight  of  the  loss  sustained  was  felt,  and  the  shout  of 
triumph  died  away  into  a  silent,  gloomy  despair.  He, 
who  had  led  them  to  the  charge,  returned  not  with  them : 
there  he  lies  upon  the  field  which  he  had  won,  mingled 
with  the  dead  bodies  of  the  common  crowd.  After  a 
long  and  almost  fruitless  search,  the  corpse  of  the  king 
was  discovered,  not  far  from  the  great  stone,  which,  for 
a  hundred  years  before,  had  stood  between  Lützen  and 
the  Canal,  and  which,  from  the  memorable  disaster  of 
that  day,  still  bears  the  name  of  the  Stone  of  the  Swede. 
Covered  with  blood  and  wounds,  so  as  scarcely  to  be 
recognized,  trampled  beneath  the  horses'  hoofs,  stripped 
by  the  rude  hands  of  plunderers  of  its  ornaments  and 
clothes,  his  body  was  drawn  from  beneath  a  heap  of 
dead,  conveyed  to  Weissenfels,  and  there  delivered  up 
to  the  lamentations  of  his  soldiers,  and  the  last  embraces 
of  his  queen.  The  first  tribute  had  been  paid  to  revenge, 
and  blood  had  atoned  for  the  blood  of  the  monarch  ;  but 
now  affection  assumes  its  rights,  and  tears  of  grief  must 
flow  for  the  man.  The  universal  sorrow  absorbs  all 
individual  woes.  The  generals,  still  stupefied  by  the  un- 
expected blow,  stood  speechless  and  motionless  around 
his  bier,  and  no  one  trusted  himself  enough  to  contem- 
plate the  full  extent  of  their  loss. 

The  emperor,  we  are  told  by  Khevenhuller,  showed 


262       bchiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

symptoms  of  deep,  and  apparently  sincere  feeling,  at  the 
sight  of  the  king's  doublet  stained  with  blood,  which  had 
been  stripped  from  him  during  the  battle,  and  carried  to 
Vienna.  "  Willingly,"  said  he,  "  would  I  have  granted 
to  the  unfortunate  prince  a  longer  life,  and  a  safe  return 
to  his  kingdom,  had  Germany  been  at  peace."  But 
when  a  trait,  which  is  nothing  more  than  a  proof  of  a 
yet  lingering  humanity,  and  which  a  mere  regard  to  ap- 
pearances and  even  self-love,  would  have  extorted  from 
the  most  insensible,  and  the  absence  of  which  could  exist 
only  in  the  most  inhuman  heart,  has,  by  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic writer  of  modern  times  and  acknowledged  merit, 
been  made  the  subject  of  the  highest  eulogium,  and 
compared  with  the  magnanimous  tears  of  Alexander,  for 
the  fall  of  Darius,  it  excites  our  distrust  of  the  other  vir- 
tues of  the  writer's  hero,  and,  what  is  still  worse,  of  his 
own  ideas  of  moral  dignity.  But  even  such  praise, 
whatever  its  amount,  is  much  for  one,  whose  memory 
his  biographer  has  to  clear  from  the  suspicion  of  being 
privy  to  the  assassination  of  a  king. 

It  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  the  strong  leaning 
of  mankind  to  the  marvelous,  would  leave  to  the  com- 
mon course  of  nature  the  glory  of  ending  the  career  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  death  of  so  formidable  a 
rival  was  too  important  an  event  for  the  emperor,  not  to 
excite  in  his  bitter  opponent  a  ready  suspicion,  that  what 
was  so  much  to  his  interests,  was  also  the  result  of  his 
instigation.  For  the  execution,  however,  of  this  dark 
deed,  the  emperor  would  require  the  aid  of  a  foreign 
arm,  and  this  it  was  generally  believed  he  had  found  in 
Francis  Albert,  Duke  of  Saxe-Lauenburg.  The  rank 
of  the  latter  permitted  him  a  free  access  to  the  king's 
person,  while  it  at  the  same  time  seemed  to  place  him 
above  the  suspicion  of  so  foul  a  deed.  This  prince, 
however,  was,  in  fact,  not  incapable  of  this  atrocity,  and 
he  had,  moreover,  sufficient  motives  for  its  commission. 

Francis  Albert,  the  youngest  of  four  sons  of  Fran- 
cis II.,  Duke  of  Lauenburg,  and  related,  by  the  mother's 
side,  to  the  race  of  Vasa,  had,  in  his  early  years,  found 
a  most  friendly  reception  at  the  Swedish  court.  Some 
offense  which  he  had  committed  against  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus, in  the  queen's  chamber,  was,  it  is  said,  repaid  by 


schiller's  thirti-  years'  war. 


263 


this  fiery  youth  with  a  box  on  the  ear ;  which,  though 
immediately  repented  of,  and  amply  apologized  for,  laid 
the  foundation  of  an  irreconcilable  hate  in  the  vindictive 
heart  of  the  duke.  Francis  Albert  subsequently  entered 
the  imperial  service,  where  he  rose  to  the  command  of 
a  regiment,  and  formed  a  close  intimacy  with  Wallen- 
stein, and  condescended  to  be  the  instrument  of  a  secret 
negotiation  with  the  Saxon  court,  which  did  little  honor 
to  his  rank.  Without  any  sufficient  cause  being  as- 
signed, he  suddenly  quitted  the  Austrian  service,  and 
appeared  in  the  king's  camp  at  Nuremberg,  to  offer  his 
services  as  a  volunteer.  By  his  show  of  zeal  for  the 
Protestant  cause,  and  prepossessing  and  flattering  de- 
portment, he  gained  the  heart  of  the  king,  who,  warned 
in  vain  by  Oxenstiern,  continued  to  lavish  his  favor  and 
friendship  on  this  suspicious  new-comer.  The  battle  of 
Lützen  soon  followed,  in  which  Francis  Albert,  like  an 
evil  genius,  kept  close  to  the  king's  side,  and  did  not  leave 
hrm  till  he  fell.  He  owed,  it  was  thought,  his  own 
safety  amid  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  to  a  green  sash 
which  he  wore,  the  color  of  the  imperialists.  He  was 
at  any  rate  the  first  to  convey  to  his  friend  Wallenstein 
the  intelligence  of  the  king's  death.  After  the  battle, 
he  exchanged  the  Swedish  service  for  the  Saxon ;  and, 
after  the  murder  of  Wallenstein,  being  charged  with 
being  an  accomplice  of  that  general,  he  only  escaped  the 
sword  of  justice  by  abjuring  his  faith.  His  last  appear- 
ance in  life  was  as  commander  of  an  imperial  army  in 
Silesia,  where  he  died  of  the  wounds  he  had  received 
before  Schweidnitz.  It  requires  some  effort  to  believe 
in  the  innocence  of  a  man,  who  had  run  through  a 
career  like  this,  of  the  act  charged  against  him;  but, 
however  great  may  be  the  moral  and  physical  possibility 
of  his  committing  such  a  crime,  it  must  still  be  allowed 
that  there  are  no  certain  grounds  for  imputing  it  to  him. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  it  is  well  known,  exposed  himself 
to  danger  like  the  meanest  soldier  in  his  army,  and 
where  thousands  fell,  he,  too,  might  naturally  meet  his 
death.  How  it  reached  him.  remains,  indeed,  buried  in 
mystery  ;  but  here,  more  than  anywhere,  does  the  max- 
im apply,  chat  where  the  ordinary  course  of  things  is 
fully  sufficient  to  account  for  the  fact,  the  honor  of 


264      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

human  nature  ought  not  to  be  stained  by  any  suspicion 
of  moral  atrocity. 

But  by  whatever  hand  he  fell,  his  extraordinary  des- 
tiny must  appear  a  great  interposition  of  Providence. 
History,  too  often  confined  to  the  ungrateful  task  of 
analyzing  the  uniform  play  of  human  passions,  is  occa- 
sionally rewarded  by  the  appearance  of  events,  which 
strike  like  a  hand  from  heaven  into  the  nicely  adjusted 
machinery  of  human  plans,  and  carry  the  contemplative 
mind  to  a  higher  order  of  things.  Of  this  kind,  is  the 
sudden  retirement  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  from  the 
scene ;  stopping  for  a  time  the  whole  movement  of  the 
political  machine,  and  disappointing  all  the  calculations 
of  human  prudence.  Yesterday,  the  very  soul,  the  great 
and  animating  principle  of  his  own  creation ;  to-day, 
struck  unpitiably  to  the  ground  in  the  very  midst  of  his 
eagle  flight ;  untimely  torn  from  a  whole  world  of  great 
designs,  and  from  the  ripening  harvest  of  his  expecta- 
tions, he  left  his  bereaved  party  disconsolate  ;  and  the 
proud  edifice  of  his  past  greatness  sunk  into  ruins.  The 
Protestant  party  had  identified  its  hopes  with  its  invin- 
cible leader,  and  scarcely  can  it  now  separate  them 
from  him :  with  him  they  now  fear  all  good  fortune  is 
buried.  But  it  was  no  longer  the  benefactor  of  Ger- 
many who  fell  at  Lützen:  the  beneficent  part  of  his 
career,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  already  terminated  ;  and 
now  the  greatest  service  which  he  could  render  to  the 
liberties  of  Germany  was — to  die.  The  all-engrossing 
power  of  an  individual  was  at  an  end,  but  many  came 
forward  to  essay  their  strength  ;  the  equivocal  assistance 
of  an  over-powerful  protector,  gave  place  to  a  more 
noble  self-exertion  on  the  part  of  the  estates  ;  and  those 
who  were  formerly  the  mere  instruments  of  his  ag- 
grandizement, now  began  to  work  for  themselves.  They 
now  looked  to  their  own  exertions  for  the  emancipation, 
which  could  not  be  received  without  danger  from  the 
hand  of  the  mighty  ;  and  the  Swedish  power,  now  inca- 
pable of  sinking  into  the  oppressor,  was  henceforth  re- 
stricted to  the  more  modest  part  of  an  ally. 

The  ambition  of  the  Swedish  monarch  aspired  un- 
questionably to  establish  a  power  within  Germany,  and 
to  attain  a  firm  footing  in  the  center  of  the  empire, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


2G5 


which  was  inconsistent  with  the  liberties  of  the  estates. 
His  aim  was  the  imperial  crown ;  and  this  dignity,  sup- 
ported by  his  power,  and  maintained  by  his  energy  and 
activity,  would  in  his  hands  be  liable  to  more  abuse  than 
had  ever  been  feared  from  the  House  of  Austria.  Born 
in  a  foreign  country,  educated  in  the  maxims  of  arbitrary 
power,  and  by  principles  and  enthusiasm  a  determined 
enemy  to  popery,  he  was  ill  qualified  to  maintain  invio- 
late the  constitution  of  the  German  states,  or  to  respect 
their  liberties.  The  coercive  homage  which  Augsburg, 
with  many  other  cities,  was  forced  to  pay  to  the  Swedish 
crown,  bespoke  the  conqueror,  rather  than  the  protector 
of  the  empire ;  and  this  town,  prouder  of  the  title  of  a 
royal  city,  than  of  the  higher  dignity  of  the  freedom  of 
the  empire,  flattered  itself  with  the  anticipation  of  be- 
coming the  capital  of  his  future  kingdom.  His  ill  dis- 
guised attempts  upon  the  Electorate  of  Mentz,  which 
he  first  intended  to  bestow  upon  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg, as  the  dower  of  his  daughter  Christina,  and 
afterward  destined  for  his  chancellor  and  friend  Oxen- 
stiern,  evinced  plainly  what  liberties  he  was  disposed  to 
take  with  the  constitution  of  the  empire.  His  allies,  the 
Protestant  princes,  had  claims  on  his  gratitude,  which 
could  be  satisfied  only  at  the  expense  of  their  Roman 
Catholic  neighbors,  and  particularly  of  the  immediate 
ecclesiastical  chapters  ;  and  it  seems  probable  a  plan  was 
early  formed  for  dividing  the  conquered  provinces  (after 
the  precedent  of  the  barbarian  hordes  who  overran  the 
German  empire),  as  a  common  spoil,  among  tKe  Ger- 
man and  Swedish  confederates.  In  his  treatment  of 
the  elector  palatine,  he  entirely  belied  the  magnanimity 
of  the  hero,  and  forgot  the  sacred  character  of  a  pro- 
tector. Tile  palatinate  was  in  his  hands,  and  the  obli- 
gations both  of  justice  and  honor  demanded  its  full  and 
immediate  restoration  to  the  legitimate  sovereign.  But, 
by  a  subtilty  unworthy  of  a  great  mind,  and  disgraceful 
to  the  honorable  title  of  protector  of  the  oppressed,  he 
eluded  that  obligation.  He  treated  the  palatinate  as  a 
conquest  wrested  from  the  enemy,  and  thought  that 
this  circumstance  gave  him  a  right  to  deal  with  it  as  he 
pleased.  He  surrendered  it  to  the  elector  as  a  favor, 
not  as  a  debt ;  and  that,  too,  as  a  Swedish  fief,  fettered 
Z 


266      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


by  conditions  which  diminished  half  its  value,  and  de- 
graded this  unfortunate  prince  into  a  humble  vassal  of 
Sweden.  One  of  these  conditions  obliged  the  elector, 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  to  furnish,  along  with 
the  other  princes,  his  contribution  toward  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  Swedish  army,  a  condition  which  plainly 
indicates  the  fate  which,  in  the  event  of  the  ultimate 
success  of  the  king,  awaited  Germany.  His  sudden 
disappearance  secured  the  liberties  of  Germany,  and 
saved  his  reputation,  while  it  probably  spared  him  the 
mortification  of  seeing  his  own  allies  in  arms  against  him, 
and  all  the  fruits  of  his  victories  torn  from  him  by  a  dis- 
advantageous peace.  Saxony  was  already  disposed  to 
abandon  him,  Denmark  viewed  his  success  with  alarm 
and  jealousy ;  and  even  France,  the  firmest  and  most 
potent  of  his  allies,  terrified  at  the  rapid  growth  of  his 
power,  and  the  imperious  tone  which  he  assumed,  looked 
around  at  the  very  moment  he  passed  the  Lech  for 
foreign  alliances,  in  order  to  check  the  progress  of  the 
Goths,  and  restore  to  Europe  the  balance  of  power. 


BOOK  IV. 

The  weak  bond  of  union,  by  which  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  continued  to  hold  together  the  Protestant  members 
of  the  empire,  was  dissolved  by  his  death  ;  the  allies 
were  now  again  at  liberty,  and  their  alliance,  to  last, 
must  be  formed  anew.  By  the  former  event,  if  un- 
remedied, they  would  lose  all  the  advantages  they  had 
gained  at  the  cost  of  so  much  bloodshed,  and  expose 
themselves  to  the  inevitable  danger  of  becoming  one 
after  the  other  the  prey  of  an  enemy,  whom,  by  their 
union  alone,  they  had  been  able  to  oppose  and  to  master. 
Neither  Sweden,  nor  any  of  the  states  of  the  empire, 
was  singly  a  match  with  the  emperor  and  the  League ; 
and,  by  seeking  a  peace  under  the  present  state  of 
things,  they  would  necessarily  be  obliged  to  receive 
laws  from  the  enemy.  Union  was,  therefore,  equally 
indispensable,  either  for  concluding  a  peace  or  continu- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  267 

ing  the  war.  But  a  peace,  sought  under  the  present 
circumstances,  could  not  fail  to  be  disadvantageous  to 
the  allied  powers.  With  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  the  enemy  had  formed  new  hopes  :  and  however 
gloomy  might  be  the  situation  of  his  affairs  after  the 
battle  of  Lützen,  still  the  death  of  his  dreaded  rival  was 
an  event  too  disastrous  to  the  allies,  and  too  favorable 
for  the  emperor,  not  to  justify  him  in  entertaining  the 
most  brilliant  expectations,  and  not  to  encourage  him  to 
the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Its  inevitable  consequence, 
for  the  moment  at  least,  must  be  want  of  union  among 
the  allies,  and  what  might  not  the  emperor  and  the 
League  gain  from  such  a  division  of  their  enemies  ? 
He  was  not  likely  to  sacrifice  such  prospects,  as  the 
present  turn  of  affairs  held  out  to  him,  for  any  peace, 
not  highly  beneficial  to  himself;  and  such  a  peace  the 
allies  would  not  be  disposed  to  accept.  They  naturally 
determined,  therefore,  to  continue  the  war,  and  for  this 
purpose,  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  union  was  ac- 
knowledged to  be  indispensable. 

But  how  was  this  union  to  be  renewed  ?  and  whence 
were  to  be  derived  the  necessary  means  for  continuing 
the  war?  It  was  not  the  power  of  Sweden,  but  the 
talents  and  personal  influence  of  its  late  king,  which  had 
given  him  so  overwhelming  an  influence  in  Germany,  so 
great  a  command  over  the  minds  of  men  ;  and  even  he 
had  innumerable  difficulties  to  overcome,  before  he  could 
establish  among  the  states  even  a  weak  and  wavering 
alliance.  With  his  death  vanished  all,  which  his  per- 
sonal qualities  alone  had  rendered  practicable ;  and  the 
mutual  obligation  of  the  states  seemed  to  cease  with  the 
hopes  on  which  it  had  been  founded.  Several  impa- 
tiently threw  off  the  yoke  which  had  always  been  irk- 
some ;  others  hastened  to  seize  the  helm  which  they 
had  unwillingly  seen  in  the  hands  of  Gustavus,  but 
which,  during  his  lifetime,  they  did  not  dare  to  dispute 
with  him.  Some  were  tempted,  by  the  seductive 
promises  of  the  emperor,  to  abandon  the  alliance ; 
others,  oppressed  by  the  heavy  burdens  of  a  fourteen 
years'  war,  longed  for  the  repose  of  peace,  upon  any 
conditions,  however  ruinous.  The  generals  of  the  army, 
partly  German  princes,  acknowledged  no  common  head, 


SCHILLERS   THIRTY   Y  K  Alls'  WAR. 


and  no  one  would  stoop  to  receive  orders  from  another. 
Unanimity  vanished  alike  from  the  cabinet  and  the 
field,  and  their  common  weal  was  threatened  with  ruin, 
by  the  spirit  of  disunion. 

Gustavus  had  left  no  male  heir  to  the  crown  of  Swe- 
den :  his  daughter  Christina,  then  six  years  old,  was 
the  natural  heir.  The  unavoidable  weakness  of  a  re- 
gency suited  ill  with  that  energy  and  resolution,  which 
Sweden  would  be  called  upon  to  display  in  this  trying 
conjuncture.  The  wide-reaching  mind  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  had  raised  this  unimportant,  and  hitherto  un- 
known kingdom,  to  a  rank  among  the  powers  of  Europe, 
which  it  could  not  retain  without  the  fortune  and  genius 
of  its  author,  and  from  which  it  could  not  recede,  with- 
out a  humiliating  confession  of  weakness.  Though  the 
German  war  had  been  conducted  chiefly  on  the  re- 
sources of  Germany,  yet  even  the  small  contribution  of 
men  and  money,  which  Sweden  furnished,  had  sufficed 
to  exhaust  the  finances  of  that  poor  kingdom,  and  the 
peasantiy  groaned  beneath  the  imposts  necessarily  laid 
upon  them.  The  plunder  gained  in  Germany  enriched 
only  a  few  individuals,  among  the  nobles  and  the  sol- 
diers, while  Sweden  itself  remained  poor  as  before. 
For  a  time,  it  is  true,  the  national  glory  reconciled  the 
subject  to  these  burdens,  and  the  sums  exacted  seemed 
but  as  a  loan  placed  at  interest,  in  the  fortunate  hand 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  to  be  richly  repaid  by  the  grate- 
ful monarch  at  the  conclusion  of  a  glorious  peace.  But 
with  the  king's  death  this  hope  vanished,  and  the  deluded 
people  now  loudly  demanded  relief  from  their  burdens. 

But  the  spirit  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  still  lived  in  the 
men  to  whom  he  had  confided  the  administration  of  the 
kingdom.  However  dreadful  to  them,  and  unexpected, 
was  the  intelligence  of  his  death,  it  did  not  deprive  them 
of  their  manly  courage  ;  and  the  spirit  of  ancient  Rome, 
under  the  invasion  of  Brennus  and  Hannibal,  animated 
this  noble  assembly.  The  greater  the  price,  at  which 
these  hai'd-gained  advantages  had  been  purchased,  the 
less  readily  could  they  reconcile  themselves  to  renounce 
them  :  not  unrevenged  was  a  king  to  be  sacrificed. 
Called  on  to  choose  between  a  doubtful  and  exhausting 
war,  and  a  profitable  but  disgraceful  peace,  the  Swedish 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


269 


council  of  state  boldly  espoused  the  side  of  danger  and 
honor ;  and  with  agreeable  surprise,  men  beheld  this 
venerable  senate  acting  with  all  the  energy  and  enthu- 
siasm of  youth.  Surrounded  with  watchful  enemies, 
both  within  and  without,  and  threatened  on  every  side 
with  danger,  they  armed  themselves  against  them  all, 
with  equal  prudence  and  heroism,  and  labored  to  extend 
their  kingdom,  even  at  the  moment  when  they  had  to 
struggle  for  its  existence. 

The  decease  of  the  king,  and  the  minority  of  his 
daughter  Christina,  renewed  the  claims  of  Poland  to 
the  Swedish  throne  ;  and  King  Ladislaus,  the  son  of 
Sigismund,  spared  no  intrigues  to  gain  a  party  in  Swe- 
den. On  this  ground,  the  regency  lost  no  time  in  pro- 
claiming the  young  queen,  and  arranging  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  regency.  All  the  officers  of  the  kingdom 
were  summoned  to  do  homage  to  their  new  princess  ;  all 
correspondence  with  Poland  prohibited,  and  the  edicts 
of  previous  monarchs  against  the  heirs  of  Sigismund, 
confirmed  by  a  solemn  act  of  the  nation.  The  alliance 
with  the  Czar  of  Muscovy  was  carefully  renewed,  in 
order,  by  the  arms,  of  this  prince,  to  keep  the  hostile 
Poles  in  check.  The  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
put  an  end  to  the  jealousy  of  Denmark,  and  removed 
the  grounds  of  alarm  which  had  stood  in  the  way  of  a 
good  understanding  between  the  two  states.  The  rep- 
resentations by  which  the  enemy  sought  to  stir  up 
Christian  IV.  against  Sweden  were  no  longer  listened 
to  ;  and  the  strong  wish  the  Danish  monarch  entertained 
for  the  marriage  of  his  son  Ulrick  with  the  young 
princess,  combined,  with  the  dictates  of  a  sounder  pol- 
icy, to  incline  him  to  a  neutrality.  At  the  same  time, 
England,  Holland,  and  France  came  forward  with  the 
gratifying  assurances  to  the  regency  of  continued  friend- 
ship and  support,  and  encouraged  them,  with  one  voice, 
to  prosecute  with  activity  the  war,  which  hitherto  had 
been  conducted  with  so  much  glory.  Whatever  reason 
France  might  have  to  congratulate  itself  on  the  death  of 
the  Swedish  conqueror,  it  was  as  fully  sensible  of  the 
expediency  of  maintaining  the  alliance  with  Sweden. 
Without  exposing  itself  to  great  danger,  it  could  not 
allow  the  power  of  Sweden  to  sink  in  Germany.  Want 


270      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

of  resources  of  its  own,  would  either  drive  Sweden  to 
conclude  a  hasty  and  disadvantageous  peace  with  Austria, 
and  then  all  the  past  efforts  to  lower  the  ascendency  of 
this  dangerous  power  would  be  thrown  away  ;  or  neces- 
sity and  despair  would  drive  the  armies  to  extort  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  states  the  means  of  support,  and 
France  would  then  be  regarded  as  the  betrayer  of  those 
very  states,  who  had  placed  themselves  under  her  pow- 
erful protection.  The  death  of  Gustavus,  far  from 
breaking  up  the  alliance  between  France  and  Sweden, 
had  only  rendered  it  more  necessary  for  both,  and  more 
profitable  for  France.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  since  he 
was  dead  who  had  stretched  his  protecting  arm  over 
Germany,  and  guarded  its  frontiers  against  the  encroach- 
ing designs  of  France,  could  the  latter  safely  pursue  its 
designs  upon  Alsace,  and  thus  be  enabled  to  sell  its  aid 
to  the  German  Protestants  at  a  dearer  rate. 

Strengthened  by  these  alliances,  secured  in  its  inte- 
rior, and  defended  from  without  by  strong  frontier  gar- 
risons and  fleets,  the  regency  did  not  delay  an  instant  to 
continue  a  war,  by  which  Sweden  had  little  of  its  own 
to  lose,  while,  if  success  attended  its  arms,  one  or  more 
of  the  German  provinces  might  be  won,  either  as  a  con- 
quest, or  indemnification  of  its  expenses.  Secure  amid 
its  seas,  Sweden,  even  if  driven  out  of  Germany,  would 
scarcely  be  exposed  to  greater  peril,  than  if  it  voluntarily 
retired  from  the  contest,  while  the  former  measure  was 
as  honorable,  as  the  latter  was  disgraceful.  The  more 
boldness  the  regency  displayed,  the  more  confidence 
would  they  inspire  among  their  confederates,  the  more 
respect  among  their  enemies,  and  the  more  favorable 
conditions  might  they  anticipate  in  the  event  of  peace. 
If  they  found  themselves  too  weak  to  execute  the  wide- 
ranging  projects  of  Gustavus,  they  at  least  owed  it  to 
this  lofty  model  to  do  their  utmost,  and  to  yield  to  no 
difficulty  short  of  absolute  necessity.  Alas,  that  motives 
of  self-interest  had  too  great  a  share  in  this  noble  deter- 
mination, to  demand  our  unqualified  admiration !  For 
those  who  had  nothing  themselves  to  suffer  from  the 
calamities  of  war,  but  were  rather  to  be  enriched  by  it, 
it  was  an  easy  matter  to  resolve  upon  its  continuation  ; 
for  the  German  empire  was,  in  the  end,  to  defray  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  271 


expenses ;  and  the  provinces  on  which  they  reckoned, 
would  be  cheaply  purchased  with  the  few  troops  they 
sacrificed  to  them,  and  with  the  generals  who  were  placed 
at  the  head  of  armies,  composed  for  the  most  part  of 
Germans,  and  with  the  honorable  superintendence  of  all 
the  operations,  both  military  and  political. 

But  this  superintendence  was  irreconcilable  with  the 
distance  of  the  Swedish  regency  from  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, and  with  the  slowness  which  necessarily  accompa- 
nies all  the  movements  of  a  council. 

To  one  comprehensive  mind  must  be  intrusted  the 
management  of  Swedish  interests  in  Germany,  and  with 
full  powers  to  determine  at  discretion  all  questions  of 
war  and  peace,  the  necessary  alliances,  and  the  requi- 
site levies.  With  dictatorial  power,  and  with  the  whole 
influence  of  the  crown  which  he  was  to  represent,  must 
this  important  magistrate  be  invested,  in  order  to  main- 
tain its  dignity,  to  enforce  united  and  combined  opera- 
tions, to  give  effect  to  his  orders,  and  to  supply  the 
place  of  the  monarch  whom  he  succeeded.  Such  a 
man  was  found  in  the  Chancellor  Oxenstiern,  the  first 
minister,  and  what  is  more,  the  friend  of  the  deceased 
king,  who,  acquainted  with  all  the  secrets  of  his  master, 
versed  in  the  politics  of  Germany,  and  in  the  relations 
of  all  the  states  of  Europe,  was  unquestionably  the  fit- 
test instrument  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  Gustavus  Adol- 
ph us  in  their  full  extent. 

Oxenstiern  was  on  his  way  to  Upper  Germany,  in 
order  to  assemble  the  four  upper  circles,  when  the 
news  of  the  king's  death  reached  him  at  Hanau.  This 
was  a  heavy  blow  both  to  the  friend  and  the  statesman. 
Sweden,  indeed,  had  lost  but  a  king,  Germany  a  pro- 
tector;  but  Oxenstiern,  the  author  of  his  fortunes,  the 
friend  of  his  soul,  and  the  object  of  his  admiration. 
Though  the  greatest  sufferer  in  the  general  loss,  he  was 
the  first  who  by  his  energy  rose  from  the  blow,  and  the 
only  one  qualified  to  repair  it.  His  penetrating  glance 
foresaw  all  the  obstacles  which  would  oppose  the  ex- 
ecution of  his  plans,  the  discouragement  of  the  estates, 
the  intrigues  of  hostile  courts,  the  breaking  up  of  the 
confederacy,  the  jealousy  of  the  leaders,  and  the  dislike 
of  princes  of  the  empire  to  submit  to  foreign  authority. 


272      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


But  even  this  deep  insight  into  the  existing  state  of 
things,  which  revealed  the  whole  extent  of  the  evil, 
showed  him  also  the  means  by  which  it  might  be  over- 
come. It  was  essential  to  revive  the  drooping  courage 
of  the  weaker  states,  to  meet  the  secret  machinations 
of  the  enemy,  to  allay  the  jealousy  of  the  more  powerful 
allies,  to  rouse  the  friendly  powers,  and  France  in  par- 
ticular, to  active  assistance  ;  but  above  all,  to  repair  the 
ruined  edifice  of  the  German  alliance,  and  to  reunite  the 
scattered  strength  of  the  party  by  a  close  and  permanent 
bond  of  union.  The  dismay  which  the  loss  of  their 
leader  occasioned  the  German  Protestants,  might  as 
readily  dispose  them  to  a  closer  alliance  with  Sweden, 
as  to  a  hasty  peace  with  the  emperor;  and  it  depended 
entirely  upon  the  course  pursued,  which  of  these  alter- 
natives they  would  adopt.  Every  thing  might  be  lost 
by  the  slightest  sign  of  despondency  ;  nothing,  but  the 
confidence  which  Sweden  showed  in  herself,  could  kin- 
dle among  the  Germans  a  similar  feeling  of  self-confi- 
dence. All  the  attempts  of  Austria  to  detach  these 
princes  from  the  Swedish  alliance  wTould  be  unavailing, 
the  moment  their  eyes  became  opened  to  their  true 
interests,  and  they  were  instigated  to  a  public  and  formal 
breach  with  the  emperor. 

Before  these  measures  could  be  taken,  and  the  neces- 
sary points  settled  between  the  regency  and  their  min- 
ister, a  precious  opportunity  of  action  would,  it  is  true, 
be  lost  to  the  Swedish  army,  of  which  the  enemy  would 
be  sure  to  take  the  utmost  advantage.  It  was,  in  short, 
in  the  power  of  the  emperor  totally  to  ruin  the  Swedish 
interest  in  Germany,  and  to  this  he  was  actually  invited 
by  the  prudent  counsels  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland.  Wal- 
le nstein  advised  him  to  proclaim  a  universal  amnesty, 
and  to  meet  the  Protestant  states  with  favorable  condi- 
tions. In  the  first  consternation  produced  by  the  fall  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  such  a  declaration  would  have  had 
the  most  powerful  effects,  and,  probably,  would  have 
brought  the  wavering  states  back  to  their  allegiance. 
But,  blinded  by  this  unexpected  turn  of  fortune,  and  in- 
fatuated by  Spanish  counsels,  he  anticipated  a  more 
brilliant  issue  from  war,  and,  instead  of  listening  to  these 
propositions  of  an  accommodation,  he  hastened  to  aug- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  \yar.  273 


ment  his  forces.  Spain,  enriched  by  the  grant  of  the 
tenth  of  the  ecclesiastical  possessions,  which  the  Pope 
confirmed,  sent  him  considerable  supplies,  negotiated 
for  him  at  the  Saxon  court,  and  hastily  levied  troops  for 
him  in  Italy  to  be  employed  in  Germany.  The  Elector 
of  Bavaria  also  considerably  increased  his  military  force ; 
and  the  restless  disposition  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  did 
not  permit  him  to  remain  inactive  in  this  favorable  change 
of  fortune.  But  while  the  enemy  were  thus  busy  to 
profit  by  the  disaster  of  Sweden,  Oxenstiern  was  dili- 
gent to  avert  its  most  fatal  consequences. 

Less  apprehensive  of  open  enemies,  than  of  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  friendly  powers,  he  left  Upper  Germany, 
which  he  had  secured  by  conquests  and  alliances,  and 
set  out  in  person  to  prevent  a  total  defection  of  the 
Lower  German  states,  or,  what  would  have  been  almost 
equally  ruinous  to  Sweden,  a  private  alliance  among  them- 
selves. Offended  at  the  boldness  with  which  the  chan- 
cellor assumed  the  direction  of  affairs,  and  inwardly  ex- 
asperated at  the  thought  of  being  dictated  to  by  a  Swedish 
nobleman,  the  Elector  of  Saxony  again  meditated  a  dan- 
gerous separation  from  Sweden ;  and  the  only  question 
in  his  mind  was,  whether  he  should  make  full  terms 
with  the  emperor,  or  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Protestants  and  form  a  third  party  in  Germany.  Simi- 
lar ideas  were  cherished  by  Duke  Ulric  of  Brunswick, 
who,  indeed,  showed  them  openly  enough  by  forbidding 
the  Swedes  from  recruiting  within  his  dominions,  and 
inviting  the  Lower  Saxon  states  to  Lunenburg,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  confederacy  among  themselves. 
The  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  jealous  of  the  influence 
which  Saxony  was  likely  to  attain  in  Lower  Germany, 
alone  manifested  any  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  Swedish 
throne,  which,  in  thought,  he  already  destined  for  his 
son.  At  the  court  of  Saxony,  Oxenstiern  was  no  doubt 
honorably  received  ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  personal 
efforts  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  empty  promises 
of  continued  friendship  were  all  which  he  could  obtain. 
With  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  he  was  more  successful, 
for  with  him  he  ventured  to  assume  a  bolder  tone.  Swe- 
den was  at  the  time  in  possession  of  the  see  of  Magde- 
burg, the  bishop  of  which  had  the  power  of  assembling 
18 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  Lower  Saxon  circle.  The  chancellor  now  asserted 
the  rights  of  the  crown,  and  by  this  spirited  proceeding, 
put  a  stop  for  the  present  to  this  dangerous  assembly 
designed  by  the  duke.  The  main  object,  however,  of 
his  present  journey  and  of  his  future  endeavors,  a  gen- 
eral confederacy  of  the  Protestants,  miscarried  entirely, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  some  un- 
steady alliances  in  the  Saxon  circles,  and  with  the 
weaker  assistance  of  Upper  Germany. 

As  the  Bavarians  were  too  powerful  on  the  Danube, 
the  assembly  of  the  four  upper  circles,  which  should 
have  been  held  at  Ulm,  was  removed  to  Heilbronn, 
where  deputies  of  more  than  twelve  cities  of  the  em- 
pire, with  a  brilliant  crowd  of  doctors,  counts,  and  princes, 
attended.  The  ambassadors  of  foreign  powers  likewise, 
France,  England,  and  Holland,  attended  this  congress, 
at  which  Oxenstiern  appeared  in  person,  with  all  the 
splendor  of  the  crown  whose  representative  he  was. 
He  himself  opened  the  proceedings,  and  conducted  the 
deliberations.  After' receiving  from  all  the  assembled 
estates  assurances  of  unshaken  fidelity,  perseverance, 
and  unity,  he  required  of  them  solemnly  and  formally 
to  declare  the  emperor  and  the  League  as  enemies. 
But  desirable  as  it  was  for  Sweden  to  exasperate  the 
ill-feeling  between  the  emperor  and  the  estates  into  a 
formal  rupture,  the  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
equally  indiposed  to  shut  out  the  possibility  of  reconcili- 
ation, by  so  decided  a  step,  and  to  place  themselves  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  the  Swedes.  They  maintained 
that  any  formal  declaration  of  war  was  useless  and  su- 
perfluous, where  the  act  would  speak  for  itself,  and 
their  firmness  on  this  point  silenced  at  last  the  chancel- 
lor. Warmer  disputes  arose  on  the  third  and  principal 
article  of  the  treaty,  concerning  the  means  of  prosecu- 
ting the  war,  and  the  quota  which  the  several  states 
ought  to  furnish  for  the  support  of  the  army.  Oxen- 
stiern's  maxim,  to  throw  as  much  as  possible  of  the  com- 
mon burden  on  the  states,  did  not  suit  very  well  with 
their  determination  to  give  as  little  as  possible.  The 
Swedish  chancellor  now  experienced,  what  had  been 
felt  by  thirty  emperors  before  him,  to  their  cost,  that  of 
all  difficult  undertakings,  the  most  difficult  was  to  extort 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  275 


money  from  the  Germans.  Instead  of  granting  the  ne- 
cessary sums  for  the  new  armies  to  be  raised,  they  elo- 
quently dwelt  upon  the  calamities  which  had  befallen 
the  former,  and  demanded  relief  from  the  old  burdens, 
when  they  were  required  to  submit  to  new.  The  irrita- 
tion which  the  chancellor's  demand  for  money  raised 
among  the  states,  gave  rise  to  a  thousand  complaints ; 
and  the  outrages  committed  by  the  troops,  in  their 
marches  and  quarters,  were  dwelt  upon  with  a  startling 
minuteness  and  truth. 

In  the  service  of  two  absolute  monarchs,  Oxenstiern 
had  but  little  opportunity  to  become  accustomed  to  the 
formalities  and  cautious  proceedings  of  republican  delib- 
erations, or  to  bear  opposition  with  patience.  Ready 
to  act  the  instant  the  necessity  of  action  was  apparent, 
and  inflexible  in  his  resolution,  when  he  had  once  taken 
it,  he  was  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  inconsistency  of 
most  men,  who,  while  they  desire  the  end,  are  yet 
averse  to  the  means.  Prompt  and  impetuous  by  nature, 
he  was  so  on  this  occasion  from  principle ;  for  every 
thing  depended  on  concealing  the  weakness  of  Sweden, 
under  a  firm  and  confident  speech,  and,  by  assuming  the 
tone  of  a  lawgiver,  really  to  become  so.  It  was  nothing 
wonderful,  therefore,  if,  amid  these  interminable  dis- 
cussions with  German  doctors  and  deputies,  he  was  en- 
tirely out  of  his  sphere,  and  if  the  inconstancy,  which 
distinguishes  the  character  of  the  Germans  in  their  pub- 
lic deliberations,  had  driven  him  almost  to  despair. 
Without  respecting  a  custom,  to  which  even  the  most 
powerful  of  the  emperors  had  been  obliged  to  conform, 
he  rejected  all  written  deliberations,  which  suited  so 
well  with  the  national  slowness  of  resolve.  He  could 
not  conceive  how  ten  days  could  be  spent  in  debating  a 
measure,  which  with  himself  was  decided  upon  its  bare 
suggestion.  Harshly,  however,  as  he  treated  the  states, 
he  found  them  ready  enough  to  assent  to  his  fourth  mo- 
tion, which  concerned  himself.  When  he  pointed  out 
the  necessity  of  giving  a  head  and  a  director  to  the  new 
confederation,  that  honor  was  unanimously  assigned  to 
Sweden,  and  he  himself  was  humbly  requested  to  give 
to  the  common  cause  the  benefit  of  his  enlightened  ex- 
perience, and  to  take  upon  himself  the  burden  of  the 


276       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


supreme  command.  But  in  order  to  prevent  his  abusing 
the  great  powers  thus  conferred  upon  him,  it  was  pro- 
posed, not  without  French  influence,  to  appoint  a  num- 
ber of  overseers,  in  fact,  under  the  name  of  assistants, 
to  control  the  expenditure  of  the  common  treasure,  and 
to  consult  with  him  as  to  the  levies,  marches,  and  quar- 
terings  of  the  troops.  Oxenstiern  long  and  strenuously 
resisted  this  limitation  of  his  authority,  which  could  not 
fail  to  trammel  him  in  the  execution  of  every  enterprise 
requiring  promptitude  or  secrecy,  and  at  last  succeeded, 
with  difficulty,  in  obtaining  so  far  a  modification  of  it, 
that  his  management  in  affairs  of  war  was  to  be  uncon- 
trolled. The  chancellor  finally  approached  the  delicate 
point  of  the  indemnification  which  Sweden  was  to  ex- 
pect, at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  from  the  gratitude 
of  the  allies,  and  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  that 
Pomerania,  the  main  object  of  Sweden,  would  be  as- 
signed to  her,  and  that  he  would  obtain  from  the  prov- 
inces assurances  of  effectual  cooperation  in  its  acquisi- 
tion. But  he  could  obtain  nothing  more  than  a  vague 
assurance,  that  in  a  general  peace  the  interests  of  all 
parties  would  be  attended  to.  That  on  this  point  the 
caution  of  the  estates  was  not  owing  to  any  regard  for 
the  constitution  of  the  empire,  became  manifest  from 
the  liberality  they  evinced  toward  the  chancellor,  at  the 
expense  of  the  free  cities  of  the  empire.  They  were 
ready  to  grant  him  the  archbishopric  of  Mentz  (which 
he  already  held  as  a  conquest),  and  only  with  difficulty 
did  the  French  ambassador  succeed  in  preventing  a  step, 
which  was  as  impolitic  as  it  was  disgraceful.  Though, 
on  the  whole,  the  result  of  the  congress  had  fallen  far 
short  of  Oxenstiern's  expectations,  he  had  at  least  gain- 
ed for  himself  and  his  crown  his  main  object,  namely, 
the  direction  of  the  whole  confederacy  ;  he  had  also 
succeeded  in  strengthening  the  bond  of  union  between 
the  four  upper  circles,  and  obtained  from  the  states  a 
yearly  contribution  of  two  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars, 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  army. 

These  concessions,  on  the  part  of  the  states,  demand- 
ed some  return  from  Sweden.  A  few  weeks  after  the 
death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  sorrow  ended  the  days  of 
the  unfortunate  elector  palatine.    For  eight  months  he 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


277 


had  swelled  the  pomp  of  his  protector's  court,  and  ex- 
pended on  it  the  small  remainder  of  his  patrimony.  He 
Was,  at  last,  approaching  the  goal  of  his  wishes,  and  the 
prospect  of  a  brighter  future  was  opening,  when  death 
deprived  him  of  his  protector.  But  what  he  regarded 
as  the  greatest  calamity,  was  highly  favorable  to  his 
heirs.  Gustavus  might  venture  to  delay  the  restoration 
of  his  dominions,  or  to  load  the  gift  with  hard  condi- 
tions:  but  Oxenstiern,  to  whom  the  .friendship  of  Eng- 
land, Holland,  and  Brandenburg,  and  the  good  opinion 
of  the  reformed  states  was  indispensable,  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  immediately  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  justice. 
At  this  assembly  at  Heilbronn,  therefore,  he  engaged  to 
surrender  to  Frederick's  heirs  the  wThole  Palatinate, 
both  the  part  already  conquered,  and  that  which  remain- 
ed to  be  conquered,  with  the  exception  of  Manheim, 
which  the  Swedes  were  to  hold  until  they  should  be 
indemnified  for  their  expenses.  The  chancellor  did  not 
confine  his  liberality  to  the  family  of  the  palatine  alone; 
the  other  allied  princes  received  proofs,  though  at  a  later 
period,  of  the  gratitude  of  Sweden,  which,  however,  she 
dispensed  at  little  cost  to  herself. 

Impartiality,  the  most  sacred  obligation  of  the  histo- 
rian, here  compels  us  to  an  admission,  not  much  to  the 
honor  of  the  champions  of  German  liberty.  However 
the  Protestant  princes  might  boast  of  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  and  the  sincerity  of  their  conviction,  still  the  mo- 
tives from  which  they  acted  were  selfish  enough  ;  and 
the  desire  of  stripping  others  of  their  possessions,  had 
at  least  as  great  a  share  in  the  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities, as  the  fear  of  being  deprived  of  their  own.  Gus- 
tavus soon  found  that  he  might  reckon  much  more  on 
these  selfish  motives,  than  on  their  patriotic  zeal,  and 
did  not  fail  to  avail  himself  of  them.  Each  of  his  con- 
federates received  from  him  the  promise  of  some  pos- 
session, either  already  wrested,  or  to  be  afterward  taken 
from  the  enemy ;  and  death  alone  prevented  him  from 
fulfilling  these  engagements.  What  prudence  had  sug- 
gested to  the  king,  necessity  now  prescribed  to  his  suc- 
cessor. If  it  was  his  object  to  continue  the  war,  he 
must  be  ready  to  divide  the  spoil  among  the  allies,  and 
promise  them  advantages  from  the  confusion  which  it 
A  A 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


was  his  object  to  continue.  Thus  he  promised  to  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  the  abbacies  of  Paderborn,  Corvey, 
Munster,  and  Fulda  ;  to  Duke  Bernard,  of  Weimar,  the 
Franconian  bishoprics  ;  to  the  Duke  of  Wirtemburg,  the 
ecclesiastical  domains,  and  the  Austrian  counties  lying 
within  his  territories,  all  under  the  title  of  fiefs  of  Swe- 
den. This  spectacle,  so  strange  and  so  dishonorable  to 
the  German  character,  surprised  the  chancellor,  who 
found  it  difficult  to  repress  his  contempt,  and  on  one 
occasion  exclaimed,  "  Let  it  be  writ  in  our  records,  for 
an  everlasting  memorial,  that  a  German  prince  made 
such  a  request  of  a  Swedish  nobleman,  and  that  the 
Swedish  nobleman  granted  it  to  the  German  upon  Ger- 
man ground  !" 

After  these  successful  measures,  he  was  in  a  condi- 
tion to  take  the  field,  and  prosecute  the  war  with  fresh 
vigor.  Soon  after  the  victory  at  Lützen,  the  troops  of 
Saxony  and  Lunenburg  united  with  the  Swedish  main 
body ;  and  the  imperialists  were,  in  a  short  time,  totally 
driven  from  Saxony.  The  united  army  again  divided  : 
the  Saxons  marched  toward  Lusatia  and  Silesia,  to  act 
in  conjunction  with  Count  Thurn  against  the  Austrians 
in  that  quarter  ;  a  part  of  the  Swedish  army  was  led  by 
the  Duke  of  Weimar  into  Franconia,  and  the  other  by 
George,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  into  Westphalia  and  Lower 
Saxony. 

The  conquests  on  the  Lech  and  the  Danube,  during 
Gustavus's  expedition  into  Saxony,  had  been  maintained 
by  the  Palatine  of  Birkenfeld,  and  the  Swedish  general, 
Banner,  against  the  Bavarians ;  but  unable  to  hold  their 
ground  against  the  victorious  progress  of  the  latter,  sup- 
ported, as  they  were,  by  the  bravery  and  military  expe- 
rience of  the  imperial  general,  Altringer,  they  were  un- 
der the  necessity  of  summoning  the  Swedish  general, 
Horn,  to  their  assistance,  from  Alsace.  This  experi- 
enced general  having  captured  the  towns  of  Benfeld, 
Schlettstadt,  Colmar,  and  Hagenau,  committed  the  de- 
fense of  them  to  the  Rhinegrave  Otto  Louis,  and  hastily 
crossed  the  Rhine  to  form  a  junction  with  Banner's 
army.  But  although  the  combined  force  amounted  to 
more  than  sixteen  thousand,  they  could  not  prevent  the 
enemy  from  obtaining  a  strong  position  on  the  Suabian 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  279 


frontier,  taking  Kempten,  and  being  joined  by  seven 
regiments  from  Bohemia.  In  order  to  retain  the  com- 
mand of  the  important  banks  of  the  Lech  and  the  Dan- 
ube, they  were  under  the  necessity  of  recalling  the 
Rhinegrave  Otto  Louis  from  Alsace,  where  he  had,  af- 
ter the  departure  of  Horn,  found  it  difficult  to  defend 
himself  against  the  exasperated  peasantry.  With  his 
army  he  was  now  summoned  to  strengthen  the  army 
on  the  Danube ;  and  as  even  this  reinforcement  was 
insufficient,  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar  was  earnestly 
pressed  to  turn  his  arms  into  this  quarter. 

Duke  Bernard,  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  campaign 
of  1633,  had  made  himself  master  of  the  town  and  ter- 
ritory of  Bamberg,  and  was  now  threatening  Wurtz- 
burg.  But  on  receiving  the  summons  of  General  Horn, 
without  delay  he  began  his  march  toward  the  Danube, 
defeated  on  his  way  a  Bavarian  army  under  John  de 
Werth,  and  joined  the  Swedes  near  Donauwerth.  This 
numerous  force,  commanded  by  excellent  generals,  now 
threatened  Bavaria  with  a  fearful  inroad.  The  bishopric 
of  Eichstadt  was  completely  overrun,  and  Ingolstadt  was 
on  the  point  of  being  delivered  up  by  treachery  to  the 
Swedes.  Altringer,  fettered  in  his  movements  by  the 
express  order  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland,  and  left  with- 
out assistance  from  Bohemia,  was  unable  to  check  the 
progress  of  the  enemy.  The  most  favorable  circum- 
stances combined  to  further  the  progress  of  the  Swedish 
arms  in  this  quarter,  when  the  operations  of  the  army 
were  at  once  stopped  by  a  mutiny  among  the  officers. 

All  the  previous  successes  in  Germany  were  owing 
altogether  to  arms ;  the  greatness  of  Gustavus  himself 
was  the  work  of  the  army,  the  fruit  of  their  discipline, 
their  bravery,  and  their  persevering  courage  under 
numberless  dangers  and  privations.  However  wisely 
his  plans  were  laid  in  the  cabinet,  it  was  to  the  army 
ultimately  that  he  was  indebted  for  their  execution ; 
and  the  expanding  designs  of  the  general  did  but  con- 
tinually impose  new  burdens  on  the  soldiers.  All  the 
decisive  advantages  of  the  war  had  been  violently  gained 
by  a  barbarous  sacrifice  of  the  soldiers'  lives  in  winter 
campaigns,  forced  marches,  stormings,  and  pitched  bat- 
tles; for  it  was  Gustavus's  maxim  never  to  decline  a 


280      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


battle,  so  long  as  it  cost  him  nothing  but  men.  The 
soldiers  could  not  long  be  kept  ignorant  of  their  own  im- 
portance, and  they  justly  demanded  a  share  in  the  spoil 
which  had  been  won  by  their  own  blood.  Yet,  fre- 
quently, they  hardly  received  their  pay ;  and  the  rapa- 
city of  individual  generals,  or  the  wants  of  the  state, 
generally  swallowed  up  the  greater  part  of  the  sums 
raised  by  contributions,  or  levied  upon  the  conquered 
provinces.  For  all  the  privations  he  endured,  the  soldier 
hat!  no  other  recompense  than  the  doubtful  chance  either 
of  plunder  or  promotion,  in  both  of  which  he  was  often 
disappointed.  During  the  lifetime  of  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
the  combined  influence  of  fear  and  hope  had  suppressed 
any  open  complaint,  but  after  his  death,  the  murmurs 
were  loud  and  universal ;  and  the  soldiery  seized  the 
most  dangerous  moment  to  impress  their  superiors  with 
a  sense  of  their  importance.  Two  officers,  Pfuhl  and 
Mitschefal,  notorious  as  restless  characters,  even  during 
the  king's  life,  set  the  example  in  the  camp  on  the  Da- 
nube, which  in  a  few  days  was  imitated  by  almost  all 
the  officers  of  the  army.  They  solemnly  bound  them- 
selves to  obey  no  order,  till  these  arrears,  now  outstand- 
ing for  months,  and  even  years,  should  be  paid  up,  and 
a  gratuity,  either  in  money  or  lands,  made  to  each  man, 
according  to  his  services.  "Immense  sums."  they  said, 
"  were  daily  raised  by  contributions,  and  all  dissipated  by 
a  few.  They  were  called  out  to  serve  amid  frost  and 
snow,  and  no  reward  requited  their  incessant  labors. 
The  soldiers'  excesses  at  Heilbronn  had  been  blamed, 
but  no  one  ever  talked  of  their  services.  The  world 
rung  with  the  tidings  of  conquests  and  victories,  but  it 
was  by  their  hands  that  they  had  been  fought  and  wTon." 

The  number  of  the  malcontents  daily  increased  ;  and 
they  even  attempted  by  letters  (which  were  fortunately 
intercepted),  to  seduce  the  armies  on  the  Rhine  and  in 
Saxony.  Neither  the  representations  of  Bernard  of 
Weimar,  nor  the  stern  reproaches  of  his  harsher  as- 
sociate in  command,  could  suppress  this  mutiny,  while 
the  vehemence  of  Horn  seemed  only  to  increase  the  in- 
solence of  the  insurgents.  The  conditions  they  insisted 
on,  were,  that  certain  towns  should  be  assigned  to  each 
regiment  for  the  payment  of  arrears.  Four  weeks  were 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  281 


allowed  to  the  Swedish  chancellor  to  comply  with  these 
demands ;  and  in  case  of  refusal,  they  announced  that 
they  would  pay  themselves,  and  never  more  draw  a 
sword  for  Sweden. 

These  pressing  demands,  made  at  the  very  time 
when  the  military  chest  was  exhausted,  and  credit  at  a 
low  ebb,  greatly  embarrassed  the  chancellor.  The 
remedy,  he  saw,  must  be  found  quickly,  before  the  con- 
tagion should  spread  to  the  other  troops,  and  he  should 
be  deserted  by  all  his  armies  at  once.  Among  the 
Swedish  generals,  there  was  only  one  of  sufficient 
authority  and  influence  with  the  soldiers  to  put  an  end 
to  this  dispute.  The  Duke  of  Weimar  was  the  favorite 
of  the  army,  and  his  prudent  moderation  had  won  the 
good-will  of  the  soldiers,  while  his  military  experience 
had  excited  their  admiration.  He  now  undertook  the 
task  of  appeasing  the  discontented  troops  ;  but,  aware  of 
his  importance,  he  embraced  the  opportunity  to  make 
advantageous  stipulations  for  himself,  and  to  make  the 
embarrassment  of  the  chancellor  subservient  to  his  own 
views. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  flattered  him  with  the  prom- 
ise of  the  duchy  of  Franconia,  to  be  formed  out  of  the 
bishoprics  of  Wurtzburg  and  Bamberg,  and  he  now 
insisted  on  the  performance  of  this  pledge.  He,  at  the 
same  time,  demanded  the  chief  command,  as  generalis- 
simo of  Sweden.  The  abuse  which  the  Duke  of  Wei- 
mar thus  made  of  his  influence  so  irritated  Oxenstiern, 
that,  in  the  first  moment  of  his  displeasure,  he  gave  him 
his  dismissal  from  the  Swedish  service.  But  he  soon 
thought  better  of  it,  and  determined,  instead  of  sacrificing 
so  important  a  leader,  to  attach  him  to  the  Swedish 
interests  at  any  cost.  He  therefore  granted  to  him  the 
Franconian  bishoprics,  as  a  fief  of  the  Swedish  crown, 
reserving,  however,  the  two  fortresses  of  Wurtzburg  and 
Königshofen,  which  were  tobe  garrisoned  by  the  Swedes ; 
and  also  engaged,  in  name  of  the  Swedish  crown,  to  se- 
cure these  territories  to  the  duke.  His  demand  of  the 
supreme  authority  was  evaded  on  some  specious  pre- 
text. The  duke  did  not  delay  to  display  his  gratitude 
for  this  valuable  grant,  and  by  his  influence  and  activity 
soon  restored  tranquillity  to  the  army.  Large  sums  of 
aa2 


282      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


money,  and  still  more  extensive  estates,  were  divided 
among  the  officers,  amounting  in  value  to  about  five  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  and  to  which  they  had  no  other  right  but 
that  of  conquest.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  op- 
portunity for  a  great  undertaking  had  been  lost,  and  the 
united  generals  divided  their  forces  to  oppose  the  enemy 
in  other  quarters. 

Gustavus  Horn,  after  a  short  inroad  into  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  and  the  capture  of  Neumark,  directed  his 
march  toward  the  Suabian  frontier,  where  the  imperial- 
ists, strongly  reinforced,  threatened  Wirtemburg.  Alarm- 
ed at  his  approach,  the  enemy  retired  to  the  lake  of  Bode, 
but  only  to  show  the  Swedes  the  road  into  a  district 
hitherto  unvisited  by  war.  A  post  on  the  entrance  to 
Switzerland  would  be  highly  serviceable  to  the  Swedes, 
and  the  town  of  Kostnitz  seemed  peculiarly  well  fitted 
to  be  a  point  of  communication  between  him  and  the 
confederated  cantons.  Accordingly,  Gustavus  Horn  im- 
mediately commenced  the  siege  of  it ;  but  destitute  of 
artillery,  for  which  he  was  obliged  to  send  to  Wirtem- 
burg, he  could  not  press  the  attack  with  sufficient  vigor,  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  throwing  supplies  into  the  town, 
which  the  lake  afforded  them  convenient  opportunity  of 
doing.  He,  therefore,  after  an  ineffectual  attempt,  quit- 
ted the  place  and  its  neighborhood,  and  hastened  to  meet 
a  more  threatening  danger  upon  the  Danube. 

At  the  emperor's  instigation,  the  cardinal  infante,  the 
brother  of  Philip  IVr.  of  Spain,  and  the  Viceroy  of 
Milan,  had  raised  an  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men, 
intended  to  act  upon  the  Rhine,  independently  of  Wal- 
lenstein, and  to  protect  Alsace.  This  force  now  appeared 
in  Bavaria,  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Feria,  a 
Spaniard;  and,  that  they  might  be  directly  employed 
against  the  Swedes,  Altringer  was  ordered  to  join  them 
with  his  corps.  Upon  the  first  intelligence  of  their  ap- 
proach, Horn  had  summoned  to  his  assistance  the  Pals- 
grave of  Birkenfeld  from  the  Rhine  ;  and  being  joined 
by  him  at  Stockach,  boldly  advanced  to  meet  the  ene- 
my's army  of  thirty  thousand  men. 

The  latter  had  taken  the  route  across  the  Danube  into 
Suabia,  where  Gustavus  Horn  came  so  close  upon  them, 
that  the  two  armies  were  only  separated  from  each  other 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


283 


by  half  a  German  mile.  But,  instead  of  accepting  the 
offer  of  battle,  the  imperialists  moved  by  the  Black 
Forest  toward  Brieslau  and  Alsace,  where  they  arrived 
in  time  to  relieve  Breysack,  and  to  arrest  the  victorious 
progress  of  the  rhinegrave,  Otto  Louis.  The  latter  had, 
shortly  before,  taken  the  forest  towns,  and,  supported  by 
the  Palatine  of  Birkenfeld,  who  had  liberated  the  Lower 
Palatinate  and  beaten  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  out  of  the 
field,  had  once  more  given  the  superiority  to  the  Swed- 
ish arms  in  that  quarter.  He  was  now  forced  to  retire 
before  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy ;  but  Horn 
and  Birkenfeld  quickly  advanced  to  his  support,  and  the 
imperialists,  after  a  brief  triumph,  were  again  expelled 
from  Alsace.  The  severity  of  the  autumn,  in  which  this 
hapless  retreat  had  to  be  conducted,  proved  fatal  to  most 
of  the  Italians  ;  and  their  leader,  the  Duke  of  Feria,  died 
of  grief  at  the  failure  of  his  enterprise. 

In  the  mean  time,  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar  had 
taken  up  his  position  on  the  Danube,  with  eighteen  regi- 
ments of  infantry  and  one  hundred  and  forty  squadrons 
of  horse,  to  cover  Franconia,  and  to  watch  the  move- 
ments of  the  imperial  Bavarian  army  upon  that  river. 
No  sooner  had  Altringer  departed,  to  join  the  Italians 
under  Feria,  than  Bernard,  profiting  by  his  absence, 
hastened  across  the  Danube,  and,  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning,  appeared  before  Ratisbon.  The  possession 
of  this  town  would  insure  the  success  of  the  Swedish 
designs  upon  Bavaria  and  Austria  ;  it  would  establish 
them  firmly  on  the  Danube,  and  provide  a  safe  refuge  in 
case  of  defeat,  while  it  alone  could  give  permanence 
to  their  conquests  in  that  quarter.  To  defend  Ratisbon, 
was  the  urgent  advice  which  the  dying  Tilly  left  to  the 
elector  ;  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  lamented  it  as  an 
irreparable  loss,  that  the  Bavarians  had  anticipated  him 
in  taking  possession  of  this  place.  Indescribable,  there- 
fore, was  the  consternation  of  Maximilian,  when  Duke 
Bernard  suddenly  appeared  before  the  town,  and  pre- 
pared in  earnest  to  besiege  it. 

The  garrison  consisted  of  not  more  than  fifteen  com- 
panies, mostly  newly  raised  soldiers;  although  that  num- 
ber was  more  than  sufficient  to  weary  out  an  enemy  of 
far  superior  force,  if  supported  by  well  disposed  and 


281 


scijiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


warlike  inhabitants.  But  this  was  the  greatest  danger 
which  the  Bavarian  garrison  had  to  contend  against.  The 
Protestant  inhabitants  of  Ratisbon,  equally  jealous  of 
their  civil  and  religious  freedom,  had  unwillingly  submit- 
ted to  the  yoke  of  Bavaria,  and  had  long  looked  with 
impatience  for  the  appearance  of  a  deliverer.  Bernard's 
arrival  before  the  walls  filled  them  with  lively  joy,  and 
there  was  much  reason  to  fear  that  they  would  support 
the  attempts  of  the  besiegers  without,  by  exciting  a 
tumult  within.  In  this  perplexity,  the  elector  addressed 
the  most  pressing  entreaties  to  the  emperor  and  the 
Duke  of  Friedland  to  assist  him,  were  it  only  with  five 
thousand  men.  Seven  messengers,  in  succession,  were 
dispatched  by  Ferdinand  to  Wallenstein,  who  promised 
immediate  succors,  and  even  announced  to  the  elector 
the  near  advance  of  twelve  thousand  men  under  Gallas  ; 
but  at  the  same  time  forbade  that  general,  under  pain  of 
death,  to  march.  Meanwhile  the  Bavarian  commandant 
of  Ratisbon,  in  the  hope  of  speedy  assistance,  made  the 
best  preparations  for  defense,  armed  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic peasants,  disarmed  and  carefully  watched  the  Prot- 
estant citizens,  lest  they  should  attempt  any  hostile  de- 
sign against  the  garrison.  But  as  no  relief  arrived,  and 
the  enemy's  artillery  incessantly  battered  the  walls,  he 
consulted  his  own  safety,  and  that  of  the  garrison,  by  an 
honorable  capitulation,  and  abandoned  the  Bavarian  offi- 
cials and  ecclesiastics  to  the  conqueror's  mercy.  - 

The  possession  of  Ratisbon  enlarged  the  projects  ot 
the  duke,  and  Bavaria  itself  now  appeared  too  narrow  a 
field  for  his  bold  designs.  He  determined  to  penetrate 
to  the  frontiers  of  Austria,  to  arm  the  Protestant 
peasantry  against  the  emperor,  aud  restore  to  them 
their  religious  liberty.  He  had  already  taken  Straubing- 
en,  while  another  Swedish  army  was  advancing  suc- 
cessfully along  the  northern  bank  of  the  Danube.  At 
the  head  of  his  Swedes,  bidding  defiance  to  the  severity 
of  the  weather,  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Iser,  which 
he  passed  in  the  presence  of  the  Bavarian  general,  Werth, 
who  was  encamped  on  that  river.  Passau  and  Lintz 
trembled  for  their  fate  ;  the  terrified  emperor  redoubled 
his  entreaties  and  commands  to  Wallenstein,  to  hasten, 
with  all  speed,  to  the  relief  of  the  hard-pressed  Bavari- 


SCHILLEIt's  THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


285 


ans.  But  here  the  victorious  Bernard,  of  his  own  accord, 
checked  his  career  of  conquest.  Having  in  front  of  him 
the  river  Inn,  guarded  by  a  number  of  strong  fortresses, 
and  behind  him  two  hostile  armies,  a  disaffected  country, 
and  the  river  Iser,  while  his  rear  was  covered  by  no 
tenable  position,  and  no  intrenchment  could  be  made  in 
the  frozen  ground,  and  threatened  by  the  whole  force  of 
Wallenstein,  who  had  at  last  resolved  to  march  to  the 
Danube,  by  a  timely  retreat  he  escaped  the  danger  of 
being  cut  off  from  Ratisbon,  and  surrounded  by  the  en- 
emy. He  hastened  across  the  Iser  to  the  Danube,  to 
defend  the  conquests  he  had  made  in  the  Upper  Palati- 
nate against  Wallenstein,  and  fully  resolved  not  to  de- 
cline a  battle,  if  necessai-y,  with  that  general.  But 
Wallenstein,  who  was  not  disposed  for  any  great  exploits 
on  the  Danube,  did  not  wait  for  his  approach  ;  and  before 
the  Bavarians  could  congratulate  themselves  on  his  arri- 
val, he  suddenly  withdrew  again  into  Bohemia.  The 
duke  thus  ended  his  victorious  campaign,  and  allowed 
his  troops  their  well  earned  repose  in  winter-quarters 
upon  an  enemy's  country. 

While  in  Suabia  the  war  was  thus  successfully  con- 
ducted by  Gustavus  Horn,  and  on  the  Upper  and  Lower 
Rhine  by  the  Palatine  of  Birkenfeld,  General  Baudis- 
sen, and  the  Rhinegrave  Otto  Louis,  and  by  Duke  Ber- 
nard on  the  Danube  ;  the  reputation  of  the  Swedish 
arms  was  as  gloriously  sustained  in  Lower  Saxony  and 
Westphalia  by  the  Duke  of  Lunenburg  and  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  Cassel.  The  fortress  of  Hamel  was 
taken  by  Duke  George,  after  a  brave  defense,  and  a 
brilliant  victory  obtained  over  the  imperial  general, 
Gronsfeld,  by  the  united  Swedish  and  Hessian  armies, 
near  Oldendorf.  Count  Wasaburg,  a  natural  son  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  showed  himself  in  this  battle  wor- 
thy of  his  descent.  Sixteen  pieces  of  cannon,  the  whole 
baggage  of  the  imperialists,  together  with  seventy-four 
colors,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes  ;  three  thousand 
of  the  enemy  perished  on  the  field,  and  nearly  the  same 
number  were  taken  prisoners.  The  town  of  Osnaburg 
surrendered  to  the  Swedish  colonel,  Knyphausen,  and 
Paderborn  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  Bückeburg,  a  very  important  place  for  the 


286         SCHILLEu'ri   THIRTY   YEARS*  WAR. 


Swedes,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  imperialists.  The 
Swedish  banners  were  victorious  in  almost  eveiy  quarter 
of  Germany  ;  and  the  year  after  the  death  of  Gustavus, 
left  no  trace  of  the  loss  which  had  been  sustained  in  the 
person  of  that  great  leader. 

In  a  review  of  the  important  events  which  signalized 
the  campaign  of  1633,  the  inactivity  of  a  man,  of  whom 
the  highest  expectations  had  been  formed,  justly  excites 
astonishment.  Among  all  the  generals  who  distinguished 
themselves  in  this  campaign,  none  could  be  compared 
with  Wallenstein,  in  experience,  talents,  atad  reputation  ; 
and  yet,  after  the  battle  of  Lützen,  we  lose  sight  of 
him  entirely.  The  fall  of  his  great  rival  had  Jeft  the 
whole  theater  of  glory  open  to  him ;  all  Europe  was 
now  attentively  awaiting  those  exploits  which  should 
efface  the  remembrance  of  his  defeat,  and  still  prove  to 
the  world  his  military  superiority.  Nevertheless,  he 
continued  inactive  in  Bohemia,  while  the  emperor's 
losses  in  Bavaria,  Lower  Saxony,  and  the  Rhine  press- 
ingly  called  for  his  presence — a  conduct  equally  unin- 
telligible to  friend  and  foe — the  terror,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  last  hope  of  the  emperor.  After  the  defeat  of 
Lützen  he  had  hastened  into  Bohemia,  where  he  insti- 
tuted the  strictest  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  his  officers 
in  that  battle.  Those  whom  the  council  of  war  declared 
guilty  of  misconduct  were  put  to  death  without  mercy, 
those  who  had  behaved  with  bravery,  rewarded  with 
princely  munificence,  and  the  memoiy  of  the  dead  hon- 
ored by  splendid  monuments.  During  the  winter,  he 
oppressed  the  imperial  provinces  by  enormous  contribu- 
tions, and  exhausted  the  Austrian  territories  by  his 
winter-quarters,  which  he  purposely  avoided  taking  up 
in  an  enemy's  country.  And  in  the  spring  of  1633,  in- 
stead of  being  the  first  to  open  the  campaign,  with  this 
well  chosen  and  well  appointed  army,  and  to  make  a 
worthy  display  of  his  great  abilities,  he  was  the  last  who 
appeared  in  the  field ;  and  even  then,  it  was  an  heredi- 
tary province  of  Austria  which  he  selected  as  the  seat 
of  war. 

Of  all  the  Austrian  provinces,  Silesia  was  most  exposed 
to  danger.  Three  different  armies,  a  Swedish  under 
Count  Thurn,  a  Saxon  under  Arnheim  and  the  Duke 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  287 


of  Lauenburg,  and  one  of  Brandenburg  under  Bergsdorf, 
had,  at  the  same  time,  carried  the  war  into  this  coun- 
try ;  they  had  already  taken  possession  of  the  most  im- 
portant places,  and  even  Breslau  had  embraced  the 
cause  of  the  allies.  But  this  crowd  of  commanders  and 
ai  mies  was  the  very  means  of  saving  this  province  to 
the  emperor;  for  the  jealousy  of  the  generals,  and  the 
mutual  hatred  of  the  Saxons  and  the  Swedes,  never 
allowed  them  to  act  with  unanimity.  Arnheim  and 
Thurn  contended  for  the  chief  command  ;  the  troops 
of  Brandenburg  and  Saxony  combined  against  the 
Swedes,  whom  they  looked  upon  as  troublesome  stran- 
gers, who  ought  to  be  got  rid  of  as  soon  -as  possible. 
The  Saxons,  on  the  contrary,  lived  on  a  very  intimate 
footing  with  the  imperialists,  and  the  officers  of  both 
these  hostile  armies  often  visited  and  entertained  each 
other.  The  imperialists  were  allowed  to  remove  their 
property  without  hindrance,  and  many  did  not  affect  to 
conceal  that  they  had  received  large  sums  from  Vienna. 
Among  such  equivocal  allies,  the  Swedes  saw  them- 
selves sold  and  betrayed ;  and  any  great  enterprise  was 
out  of  the  question,  while  so  bad  an  understanding  pre- 
vailed between  the  troops.  General  Arnheim,  too,  was 
absent  the  greater  part  of  the  time  ;  and  when  he  at 
last  returned,  Wallenstein  was  fast  approaching  the 
frontiers  with  a  formidable  force. 

His  army  amounted  to  forty  thousand  men,  while  to 
oppose  him  the  allies  had  only  twenty -four  thousand. 
They,  nevertheless,  resolved  to  give  him  battle,  and 
marched  to  Munsterberg,  where  he  had  formed  an  in- 
trenched camp.  But  Wallenstein  remained  inactive  for 
eight  days  ;  he  then  left  his  intrenchments,  and  marched 
slowly  and  with  composure  to  the  enemy's  camp.  But 
even  after  quitting  his  position,  and  when  the  enemy, 
emboldened  by  his  past  delay,  manfully  prepared  to  re- 
ceive him,  he  declined  the  opportunity  of  fighting.  The 
caution  with  which  he  avoided  a  battle  was  imputed  to 
fear;  but  the  well  established  reputation  of  Wallenstein 
enabled  him  to  despise  this  suspicion.  The  vanity  of 
the  allies  allowed  them  not  to  see  that  he  purposely 
saved  them  a  defeat,  because  a  victory  at  that  time 
would  not  have  served  his  own  ends.   To  convince  them 


288       schiller\s  thirty  years'  war. 


of  his  superior  power,  and  that  his  inactivity  proceeded 
not  from  any  fear  of  them,  he  put  to  death  the  com- 
mander of  a  castle  that  fell  into  his  hands,  because  he 
had  refused  at  once  to  surrender  an  untenable  place. 

For  nine  days  did  the  two  armies  remain  within 
musket-shot  of  each  other,  when  Count  Terzky,  from 
the  camp  of  the  imperialists,  appeared  with  a  trumpeter 
in  that  of  the  allies,  inviting  General  Arnheim  to  a  con- 
ference. The  purport  was,  that  Wallenstein,  notwith- 
standing his  superiority,  was  willing  to  agree  to  a  cessation 
of  arms  for  six  weeks.  "  He  was  come,"  he  said,  "  to 
conclude  a  lasting  peace  with  the  Swedes,  and  with  the 
princes  of  the  empire,  to  pay  the  soldiers,  and  to  satisfy 
every  one.  All  this  was  in  his  power  ;  and  if  the  Aus- 
trian court  hesitated  to  confirm  his  agreement,  he  would 
unite  with  the  allies,  and  (as  he  privately  whispered  to 
Arnheim)  hunt  the  emperor  to  the  devil."  At  the 
second  conference,  he  expressed  himself  still  more 
plainly  to  Count  Thurn.  "  All  the  privileges  of  the 
Bohemians,"  he  engaged,  "should  be  confirmed  anew, 
the  exiles  recalled  and  restored  to  their  estates,  and  he 
himself  would  be  the  first  to  resign  his  share  of  them. 
The  Jesuits,  as  the  authors  of  all  past  grievances,  should 
be  banished,  the  Swedish  crown  indemnified  by  stated 
payments,  and  all  the  superfluous  troops  on  both  sides 
employed  against  the  Turks."  The  last  article  ex- 
plained the  whole  mystery.  "  If,"  he  continued,  "  lit 
should  obtain  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  all  the  exiles 
would  have  reason  to  applaud  his  generosity  ;  perfect 
toleration  of  religions  should  be  established  within  the 
kingdom,  the  palatine  family  be  reinstated  in  its  rights, 
and  he  would  accept  the  margraviate  of  Moravia,  as  a 
compensation  for  Mecklenburg.  The  allied  armies 
would  then,  under  his  command,  advance  upon  Vienna, 
and,  sword,  in  hand,  compel  the  emperor  to  ratify  the 
treaty." 

Thus  was  the  veil  at  last  removed  from  the  schemes 
over  which  he  had  brooded  for  years  in  mysterious 
silence.  Every  circumstance  now  convinced  him  that 
not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost  in  its  execution.  Nothing 
bnt  a  blind  confidence  in  the  good  fortune  and  military 
genius  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland,  had  induced  the  em- 


schiller'ö  thirty  years'  war.  289 


peror,  m  the  face  of  the  remonstrances  of  Bavaria  and 
Spain,  and  at  the  expense  of  his  own  reputation,  to  con- 
fer upon  this  imperious  leader  such  an  unlimited  com- 
mand. But  this  belief  in  Wellenstein's  being  invincible 
had  been  much  weakened  by  his  inaction,  and  almost 
entirely  overthrown  by  the  defeat  at  Lützen.  His  ene- 
mies at  the  imperial  court  now  renewed  their  intrigues; 
and  the  emperor's  disappointment  at  the  failure  of  his 
hopes,  procured  for  their  remonstrances  a  favorable  re- 
ception. Wallenstein's  whole  conduct  was  now  re- 
viewed with  the  most  malicious  criticism  ;  his  ambitious 
haughtiness,  his  disobedience  to  the  emperor's  orders, 
were  recalled  to  the  recollection  of  that  jealous  prince, 
as  well  as  the  complaints  of  the  Austrian  subjects  against 
his  boundless  oppression;  his  fidelity  was  questioned, 
and  alarming  hints  thrown  out  as  to  his  secret  views. 
These  insinuations,  which  the  conduct  of  the  duke 
seemed  but  too  well  to  justify,  failed  not  to  make  a  deep 
impression  on  Ferdinand  ;  but  the  step  had  been  taken, 
and  the  great  power  with  which  Wallenstein  had  been 
invested  could  not  be  taken  from  him  without  danger. 
Insensibly  to  diminish  that  power,  was  the  only  course 
that  now  remained,  and,  to  effect  this,  it  must  in  the 
first  place  be  divided ;  but  above  all,  the  emperor's  pres- 
ent dependence  on  the  good-will  of  his  general  put  an 
end  to.  But  even  this  right  had  been  resigned  in  his 
engagement  with  Wallenstein,  and  the  emperor's  own 
handwriting  secured  him  against  every  attempt  to  unite 
another  general  with  him  in  the  command,  or  to  exer- 
cise any  immediate  act  of  authority  over  the  troops. 
A.s  this  disadvantageous  contract  could  neither  be  kept 
nor  broken,  recourse  was  had  to  artifice.  Wallenstein 
was  imperial  generalissimo  in  Germany,  but  his  com- 
mand extended  no  further,  and  he  could  not  presume  to 
exercise  any  authority  over  a  foreign  army.  A  Spanish 
army  was  accordingly  raised  in  Milan,  and  marched 
into  Germany  under  a  Spanish  general.  Wallenstein 
now  ceased  to  be  indispensable  because  he  was  no  longer 
supreme,  and,  in  case  of  necessity,  the  emperor  was  now 
provided  with  the  means  of  support  even  against  him. 

The  duke  quickly  and  deeply  felt  whence  this  blow 
came,  and  whither  it  was  aimed.    In  vain  did  he  pro- 
19  B  h 


290      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


test  against  this  violation  of  the  compact,  to  the  cardinal 
infante ;  the  Italian  army  continued  its  march,  and  he 
was  forced  to  detach  General  Altringer  to  join  it  with  a 
reinforcement.  He  took  care,  indeed,  so  closely  to  fetter 
the  latter,  as  to  prevent  the  Italian  army  from  acquiring 
any  great  reputation  in  Alsace  and  Suabia ;  but  this  bold 
step  of  the  court  awakened  him  from  his  security,  and 
warned  him  of  the  approach  of  danger.  That  he  might 
not  a  second  time  be  deprived  of  his  command,  and  lose 
the  fruit  of  all  his  labors,  he  must  accelerate  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  long  meditated  designs.  He  secured 
the  attachment  of  his  troops  by  removing  the  doubtful 
officers,  and  by  his  liberality  to  the  rest.  He  had  sacri- 
ficed to  the  welfare  of  the  army  every  other  order  in  the 
state,  every  consideration  of  justice  and  humanity,  and 
therefore  he  reckoned  upon  their  gratitude.  At  the 
very  moment  when  he  meditated  an  unparalleled  act  of 
ingratitude  against  the  author  of  his  own  good  fortune, 
he  founded  all  his  hopes  upon  the  gratitude  which  was 
due  to  himself. 

The  leaders  of  the  Silesian  armies  had  no  authority 
from  their  principals  to  consent,  on  their  own  discretion, 
to  such  important  proposals  as  those  of  Wallenstein,  and 
they  did  not  even  feel  themselves  warranted  in  granting, 
for  more  than  a  fortnight,  the  cessation  of  hostilities  which 
he  demanded.  Before  the  duke  disclosed  his  designs  to 
Sweden  and  Saxony,  he  had  deemed  it  advisable  to  se- 
cure the  sanction  of  France  to  his  bold  undertaking.  For 
this  purpose,  a  secret  negotiation  had  been  carried  on 
with  the  greatest  possible  caution  and  distrust,  by  Count 
Kinsky  with  Feuquieres,  the  French  ambassador  at 
Dresden,  and  had  terminated  according  to  his  wishes. 
Feuquieres  received  orders  from  his  court  to  promise 
every  assistance  on  the  part  of  France,  and  to  öfter  the 
duke  a  considerable  pecuniary  aid  in  case  of  need. 

But  it  was  this  excessive  caution  to  secure  himself  on 
all  sides,  that  led  to  his  ruin.  The  French  ambassador 
with  astonishment  discovered  that  a  plan,  which,  more 
than  any  other,  required  secrecy,  had  been  communi- 
cated to  the  Swedes  and  the  Saxons.  And  yet  it  was 
generally  known  that  the  Saxon  ministry  was  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  emperor,  and  on  the  other  hard,  th«  con- 


Schiller's  thirty  years   war.  291 

dirions  offered  to  the  Swedes  fell  too  far  short  of  their 
expectations  to  be  likely  to  be  accepted.  Feuquieres, 
therefore,  could  not  believe  that  the  duke  could  be 
serious  in  calculating  upon  the  aid  of  the  latter,  and  the 
silence  of  the  former.  He  communicated  accordingly 
his  doubts  and  anxieties  to  the  Swedish  chancellor,  who 
equally  distrusted  the  views  of  Wallenstein,  and  disliked 
his  plans.  Although  it  was  no  secret  to  Oxenstiern,  that 
the  duke  had  formerly  entered  into  a  similar  negotiation 
with  Gustavus  Adolphus,  he  could  not  credit  the  possi- 
bility of  inducing  a  whole  army  to  revolt,  and  of  his  ex- 
travagant promises.  So  daring  a  design,  and  such  im- 
prudent conduct,  seemed  not  to  be  consistent  with  the 
duke's  reserved  and  suspicious  temper,  and  he  was  the 
more  inclined  to  consider  the  whole  as  the  result  of  dis- 
simulation and  treachery,  because  he  had  less  reason  to 
doubt  his  prudence  than  his  honesty. 

Oxenstiern's  doubts  at  last  affected  Arnheim  himself, 
who,  in  full  confidence  in  Wallenstein's  sincerity,  had 
repaired  to  the  chancellor  at  Gelnhausen,  to  persuade 
him  to  lend  some  of  his  best  regiments  to  the  duke,  to 
aid  him  in  the  execution  of  the  plan.  They  began  to 
suspect  that  the  whole  proposal  was  only  a  snare  to  dis- 
arm the  allies,  and  to  betray  the  flower  of  their  troops 
into  the  hand  of  the  emperor.  Wallenstein's  well 
known  character  did  not  contradict  the  suspicion,  and 
the  inconsistencies  in  which  he  afterward  involved 
himself,  entirely  destroyed  all  confidence  in  his  sincer- 
ity. While  he  was  endeavoring  to  draw  the  Swedes 
into  this  alliance,  and  requiring  the  help  of  their  best 
troops,  he  declared  to  Arnheim  that  they  must  begin 
with  expelling  the  Swedes  from  the  empire;  and  while 
the  Saxon  officers,  relying  upon  the  security  of  the 
truce,  repaired  in  great  numbers  to  his  camp,  he  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  seize  them.  He  was  the 
first  to  break  the  truce,  which  some  months  afterward 
he  renewed,  though  not  without  great  difficulty.  All 
confidence  in  his  sincerity  was  lost :  his  whole  conduct 
was  regarded  as  a  tissue  of  deceit  and  low  cunning,  de- 
vised to  weaken  the  allies  and  repair  his  own  strength. 
This  indeed  he  actually  did  effect,  as  his  own  army 
daily  augmented,  while  that  of  the  allies  was  reduced 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


nearly  one  half  by  desertion  and  bad  provisions.  But 
he  did  not  make  that  use  of  his  superiority  which  Vi- 
enna expected.  When  all  men  were  looking  for  a  de- 
cisive blow  to  be  struck,  he  suddenly  renewed  the  ne- 
gotiations ;  and  when  the  truce  lulled  the  allies  into 
security,  he  as  suddenly  recommenced  hostilities.  All 
these  contradictions  arose  out  of  the  double  and  irrecon- 
cilable designs  to  ruin  at  once  the  emperor  and  the 
Swedes,  and  to  conclude  a  separate  peace  with  the 
Saxons. 

Impatient  at  the  ill  success  of  his  negotiations,  he  at 
last  determined  to  display  his  strength ;  the  more  so,  as 
the  pressing  distress  within  the  empire,  and  the  growing 
dissatisfaction  of  the  imperial  court,  admitted  not  of  his 
making  any  longer  delay.  Before  the  last  cessation  of 
hostilities,  General  Hoik,  from  Bohemia,  had  attacked 
the  circle  of  Meissen,  laid  waste  every  thing  on  his 
route  with  fire  and  sword,  driven  the  elector  into  his 
fortresses,  and  taken  the  town  of  Leipzig.  But  the 
truce  in  Bohemia  put  a  period  to  his  ravages,  and  the 
consequences  of  his  excesses  brought  him  to  the  grave 
at  Adorf.  As  soon  as  hostilities  were  recommenced, 
Wallenstein  made  a  movement,  as  if  he  designed  to 
penetrate  through  Lusatia  into  Saxony,  and  circulated 
the  report  that  Piccolomini  had  already  invaded  that 
country.  Arnheim  immediately  broke  up  his  camp  in 
Silesia,  to  follow  him,  and  hasten  to  the  assistance  of 
the  electorate.  By  this  means  the  Swedes  were  left 
exposed,  who  were  encamped  in  small  force  under 
Count  Thurn,  at  Steinau,  on  the  Oder,  and  this  was 
exactly  what  Wallenstein  desired.  He  allowed  the 
Saxon  general  to  advance  sixteen  miles  toward  Meis- 
sen, and  then  suddenly  turning  toward  the  Oder,  sur- 
prised the  Swedish  army  in  the  most  complete  security. 
Their  cavalry  were  first  beaten  by  General  Schafgotsch, 
who  was  sent  against  them,  and  the  infantry  completely 
surrounded  at  Steinau  by  the  duke's  army,  which  fol- 
lowed. Wallenstein  gave  Count  Thurn  half  an  hour  to 
deliberate  whether  he  would  defend  himself  with  twen- 
ty-five hundred  men,  against  more  than  twenty  thousand, 
or  surrender  at  discretion.  But  there  was  no  room  for 
deliberation.    The  army  surrendered,  and  the  most 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  293 


complete  victory  was  obtained  without  bloodshed.  Col- 
ors, baggage,  and  artillery  all  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors,  the  officers  were  taken  into  custody,  the  pri- 
vates drafted  into  the  army  of  Wallenstein.  And  now 
at  last,  after  a  banishment  of  fourteen  years,  after  num- 
berless changes  of  fortune,  the  author  of  the  Bohemian 
insurrection,  and  the  remote  origin  of  this  destructive 
war,  the  notorious  Count  Thurn,  was  in  the  power  of 
his  enemies.  With  blood-thirsty  impatience,  the  arrival 
of  this  great  criminal  was  looked  for  in  Vienna,  where 
they  already  anticipated  the  malicious  triumph  of  sacri- 
ficing so  distinguished  a  victim  to  public  justice.  But  to 
deprive  the  Jesuits  of  this  pleasure  was  a  still  sweeter 
triumph  to  Wallenstein,  and  Thurn  was  set  at  liberty. 
Fortunately  for  him,  he  knew  more  than  it  was  prudent 
to  have  divulged  in  Vienna,  and  his  enemies  were  also 
those  of  Wallenstein.  A  defeat  might  have  been  for- 
given in  Vienna,  but  this  disappointment  of  their  hopes 
they  could  not  pardon.  "  What  should  I  have  done 
with  this  madman  ?"  he  writes,  with  a  malicious  sneer, 
to  the  minister  who  called  him  to  account  for  this  un- 
seasonable magnanimity.  "  Would  to  Heaven  the  ene- 
my had  no  generals  but  such  as  he.  At  the  head  of  the 
Swedish  army,  he  will  render  us  much  better  service 
than  in  prison." 

The  victory  of  Steinau  was  followed  by  the  capture 
of  Leignitz,  Grossglogau,  and  even  of  Frankfort  on  the 
Oder.  Schafgotsch,  who  remained  in  Silesia  to  com- 
plete the  subjugation  of  that  province,  blockaded  Brieg, 
and  threatened  Breslau,  though  in  vain,  as  that  free 
town  was  jealous  of  its  privileges,  and  devoted  to  the 
Swedes.  Colonels  Illo  and  Goetz  were  ordered  by 
Wallenstein  to  the  Warta,  to  push  forward  into  Pome- 
rania,  and  to  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  and  actually  ob- 
tained possession  of  Landsberg,  the  key  of  Pomerania. 
While  thus  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Duke 
of  Pomerania  were  made  to  tremble  for  their  dominions, 
Wallenstein  himself,  with  the  remainder  of  his  army, 
burst  suddenly  into  Lusatia,  where  he  took  Goerlitz  by 
storm,  and  forced  Bautzen  to  surrender.  But  his  object 
was  merely  to  alarm  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  not  to  fol 
low  up  the  advantages  already  obtained ;  and  therefore; 
bb2 


294      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


even  with  the  sword  in  his  hand,  he  continued  his 
negotiations  for  peace  with  Brandenburg  and  Saxony, 
but  with  no  better  success  than  before,  as  the  incon- 
sistences of  his  conduct  had  destroyed  all  confidence  in 
his  sincerity.  He  was  therefore  on  the  point  of  turning 
his  whole  force  in  earnest  against  the  unfortunate  Saxons, 
and  effecting  his  object  by  force  of  arms,  when  circum- 
stances compelled  him  to  leave  these  territories.  The 
conquests  of  Duke  Bernard  upon  the  Danube,  which 
threatened  Austria  itself  with  immediate  danger,  ur- 
gently demanded  his  presence  in  Bavaria ;  and  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Saxons  and  Swedes  from  Silesia  deprived 
him  of  every  pretext  for  longer  resisting  the  imperial 
orders,  and  leaving  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  without  as- 
sistance. With  his  main  body,  therefore,  he  imme- 
diately set  out  for  the  Upper  Palatinate,  and  his  retreat 
freed  Saxony  forever  of  this  formidable  enemy. 

So  long  as  was  possible,  he  had  delayed  to  move  to 
the  rescue  of  Bavaria,  and  on  every  pretext  evaded  the 
commands  of  the  emperor.  He  had,  indeed,  after 
reiterated  remonstrances,  dispatched  from  Bohemia  a 
reinforcement  of  some  regiments  to  Count  Altringer, 
who  was  defending  the  Lech  and  the  Danube  against 
Horn  and  Bernard,  but  under  the  express  condition  of 
his  acting  merely  on  the  defensive.  He  referred  the 
emperor  and  the  elector,  whenever  they  applied  to  him 
for  aid,  to  Altringer,  who,  as  he  publicly  gave  out,  had 
received  unlimited  powers  ;  secretly,  however,  he  tied 
up  his  hands  by  the  strictest  injunctions,  and  even 
threatened  him  with  death,  if  he  exceeded  his  orders. 
When  Duke  Bernard  had  appeared  before  Ratisbon, 
and  the  emperor  as  well  as  the  elector  repeated  still 
more  urgently  their  demand  for  succor,  he  pretended 
he  was  about  to  dispatch  General  Gallas  with  a  consid- 
erable army  to  the  Danube  ;  but  this  movement  also 
was  delayed,  and  Ratisbon,  Saubingen,  and  Cham,  as 
well  as  the  bishopric  of  Eichstadt,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Swedes.  When  at  last  he  could  no  longer  neglect 
the  orders  of  the  court,  he  marched  slowly  toward  the 
Bavarian  frontier,  where  he  recovered  the  town  of 
Cham,  which  had  been  taken  by  the  Swedes.  But  no 
sooner  did  he  learn  that  on  the  Swedish  side  a  diversion 


schiller's  thirty  year*'  war.  295 


was  contemplated,  by  an  inroad  of  the  Saxons  into 
Bohemia,  than  he  availed  himself  of  the  report,  as  a 
pretext  for  immediately  retreating  into  that  kingdom. 
Every  consideration,  he  urged,  must  be  postponed  to 
the  defense  and  preservation  of  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  the  emperor ;  and  on  this  plea,  he  remained  firmly 
fixed  in  Bohemia,  which  he  guarded  as  if  it  had  been 
his  own  property.  And  when  the  emperor  laid  upon 
him  his  commands  to  move  toward  the  Danube,  and 
prevent  the  Duke  of  Weimar  from  establishing  himself 
in  so  dangerous  a  position  on  the  frontiers  of  Austria, 
Wallenstein  thought  proper  to  conclude  the  campaign  a 
second  time,  and  quartered  his  troops  for  the  winter  in 
this  exhausted  kingdom. 

Such  continued  insolence  and  unexampled  contempt 
of  the  imperial  orders,  as  well  as  obvious  neglect  of  the 
common  cause,  joined  to  his  equivocal  behavior  toward 
the  enemy,  tended  at  last  to  convince  the  emperor  of 
the  truth  of  those  unfavorable  reports  with  regard  to 
the  duke,  which  were  current  through  Germany.  The 
latter  had,  for  a  long  time,  succeeded  in  glozing  over  his 
criminal  correspondence  with  the  enemy,  and  persuad- 
ing the  emperor,  still  prepossessed  in  his  favor*  that  the 
sole  object  of  his  secret  conferences  was  to  obtain  peace 
for  Germany.  But  impenetrable  as  he  himself  believed 
his  proceedings  to  be,  in  the  course  of  his  conduct 
enough  transpired  to  justify  the  insinuations  with  which 
his  rivals  incessantly  loaded  the  ear  of  the  emperor.  In 
order  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  these 
rumors,  Ferdinand  had  already,  at  different  times,  sent 
spies  into  Wallenstein's  camp ;  but  as  the  duke  took  the 
precaution  never  to  commit  any  thing  to  writing,  they 
returned  with  nothing  but  conjectures.  But  when,  at 
last,  those  ministers  who  formerly  had  been  his  cham- 
pions at  the  court,  in  consequence  of  their  estates  not 
being  exempted  by  Wallenstein  from  the  general  exac- 
tions, joined  his  enemies  ;  when  the  Elector  of  Bavaria 
threatened,  in  case  of  Wallenstein  being  any  longer 
retained  in  the  supreme  command,  to  unite  with  the 
Swedes ;  when  the  Spanish  ambassador  insisted  on  his 
dismissal,  and  threatened,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  withdraw 
the  subsidies  furnished  by  his  crown,  the  emperor  found 


ÖCHILLEKä    THHITX    V  LAils'  WAR. 


himself  a  second  time  compelled  to  deprive  him  of  the 
command. 

The  emperor's  authoritative  and  direct  interference 
with  the  army  soon  convinced  the  duke  that  the  com- 
pact with  himself  was  regarded  as  at  an  end,  and  that 
his  dismissal  was  inevitable.  One  of  his  inferior  gen- 
erals in  Austria,  whom  he  had  forbidden,  under  pain  of 
death,  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  court,  received  the 
positive  commands  of  the  emperor  to  join  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria;  and  WaJlenstein  himself  was  imperiously  or- 
dered to  send  some  regiments  to  reinforce  the  army  of 
the  cardinal  infante,  who  was  on  his  march  from  Italy. 
All  these  measures  convinced  him  that  the  plan  was 
finally  arranged  to  disarm  him  by  degrees,  and  at  once, 
when  he  was  weak  and  defenseless,  to  complete  his 
ruin. 

In  self-defense,  must  he  now  hasten  to  carry  into  ex- 
ecution the  plans  which  he  had  originally  formed  only 
with  the  view  to  aggrandizement.  He  had  delayed  too 
long,  either  because  the  favorable  configuration  of  the 
stars  had  not  yet  presented  itself,  or,  as  he  used  to  say, 
to  check  the  impatience  of  his  friends,  because  the  time 
was  not  yet  come.  The  time,  even  now,  was  not  come  ; 
but  the  pressure  of  circumstances  no  longer  allowed  him 
to  await  the  favor  of  the  stars.  The  first  step  was  to 
assure  himself  of  the  sentiments  of  his  principal  officers, 
and  then  to  try  the  attachment  of  the  army,  which  he 
had  so  long  confidently  reckoned  on.  Three  of  them, 
Colonels  Kinsky,  Terzky,  and  Illo,  had  long  been  in  his 
secrets,  and  the  two  first  were  further  united  to  his  in- 
terests by  the  ties  of  relationship.  The  same  wild  am- 
bition, the  same  bitter  hatred  of  the  government,  and 
the  hope  of  enormous  rewards,  bound  them  in  the 
closest  manner  to  Wallenstein,  who,  to  increase  the 
number  of  his  adherents,  could  stoop  to  the  lowest 
means.  He  had  once  advised  Colonel  Illo  to  solicit,  in 
Vienna,  the  title  of  count,  and  had  promised  to  back 
his  application  with  his  powerful  mediation.  But  he 
secretly  wrote  to  the  ministry,  advising  them  to  refuse 
his  request,  as  to  grant  it  would  give  rise  to  similar  de- 
mands from  others,  whose  services  and  claims  were 
equal  to  his.    On  Illo's  return  to  the  camp,  Wallenstein 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


297 


immediately  demanded  to  know  the  success  of  his  mis- 
sion;  and  when  informed  by  Ulo  of  its  failure,  he  broke 
out  into  the  bitterest  complaints  against  the  court. 
"  Thus,"  said  he,  "  are  our  faithful  services  rewarded. 
My  recommendation  is  disregarded,  and  your  merit  de- 
nied so  trifling  a  reward!  Who  would  any  longer  de- 
vote his  services  to  so  ungrateful  a  master  ?  No,  for 
my  part,  I  am  henceforth  the  determined  foe  of  Aus- 
tria." Illo  agreed  with  him,  and  a  close  alliance  was 
cemented  between  them. 

But  what  was  known  to  these  three  confidants  of  the 
duke,  was  long  an  impenetrable  secret  to  the  rest ;  and 
the  confidence  with  which  Wallenstein  spoke  of  the  de- 
votion of  his  officers  was  founded  merely  on  the  favors 
he  had  lavished  on  them,  and  on  their  known  dissatis- 
faction with  the  court.  But  this  vague  presumption 
must  be  converted  into  certainty,  before  he  could  ven- 
ture to  lay  aside  the  mask,  or  take  any  open  step  against 
the  emperor.  Count  Piccolomini,  who  had  distinguish- 
ed himself  by  his  unparalleled  bravery  at  Lützen,  was 
the  first  whose  fidelity  he  put  to  the  proof.  He  had, 
he  thought,  gained  the  attachment  of  this  general  by 
large  presents,  and  preferred  him  to  all  others,  because 
born  under  the  same  constellations  with  himself.  He 
disclosed  to  him  that,  in  consequence  of  the  emperor's 
ingratitude,  and  the  near  approach  of  his  own  danger, 
he  had  irrevocably  determined  entirely  to  abandon  the 
party  of  Austria,  to  join  the  enemy  with  the  best  part 
of  his  army,  and  to  make  war  upon  the  House  of  Aus- 
tria, on  all  sides  of  its  dominions,  till  he  had  wholly  ex- 
tirpated it.  In  the  execution  of  this  plan,  he  principally 
reckoned  on  the  services  of  Piccolomini,  and  had  before- 
hand promised  him  the  greatest  rewards.  WThen  the 
latter,  to  conceal  his  amazement  at  this  extraordinaiy 
communication,  spoke  of  the  dangers  and  obstacles  which 
would  oppose  so  hazardous  an  enterprise,  Wallenstein 
ridiculed  his  fears.  "  In  such  enterprises,"  he  main- 
tained, "  nothing  was  difficult  but  the  commencement. 
The  stars  were  propitious  to  him,  the  opportunity  the 
best  that  could  be  wished  for,  and  something  must  always 
be  trusted  to  fortune.  His  resolution  was  taken,  and  il 
it  could  not  be  otherwise,  he  would  encounter  the.haz- 


298      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


ai  d  at  the  head  of  a  thousand  horse."  Piccolomini  was 
careful  not  to  excite  Wallenstein's  suspicions  by  longer 
opposition,  and  yielded  apparently  to  the  force  of  his 
reasoning.  Such  was  the  infatuation  of  the  duke,  that 
notwithstanding  the  warnings  of  Count  Terzky,  he 
never  doubted  the  sincerity  of  this  man,  who  lost  not  a 
moment  in  communicating  to  the  court  at  Vienna  this 
important  conversation. 

Preparatory  to  taking  the  last  decisive  step,  he,  in 
January,  1634,  called  a  meeting  of  all  the  commanders 
of  the  army  at  Pilsen,  whither  he  had  marched  after 
his  retreat  from  Bavaria.  The  emperor's  recent  orders 
to  spare  his  hereditary  dominions  from  winter  quarter- 
ings,  to  recover  Ratisbon  in  the  middle  of  winter,  and 
to  reduce  the  army  by  a  detachment  of  six  thousand 
horse  to  the  cardinal  infante,  were  matters  sufficiently 
grave  to  be  laid  before  a  council  of  war ;  and  this  plaus- 
ible pretext  served  to  conceal  from  the  curious  the  real 
object  of  the  meeting.  Sweden  and  Saxony  received 
invitations  to  be  present,  in  order  to  treat  with  the  Duke 
of  Friedland  for  a  peace ;  to  the  leaders  of  more  distant 
armies,  written  communications  were  made.  Of  the 
commanders  thus  summoned,  twenty  appeared ;  but 
three  most  influential,  Gallas,  Colleredo,  and  Altringer, 
were  absent.  The  duke  reiterated  his  summons  to 
them,  and  in  the  mean  time,  in  expectation  of  their 
speedy  arrival,  proceeded  to  execute  his  designs. 

It  was  no  light  task  that  he  had  to  perform  :  a  noble- 
man, proud,  brave,  and  jealous  of  his  honor,  was  to  de- 
clare himself  capable  of  the  basest  treachery,  in  the 
very  presence  of  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  re- 
gard him  as  the  representative  of  majesty,  the  judge  of 
their  actions,  and  the  supporter  of  their  laws,  and  to 
show  himself  suddenly  as  a  traitor,  a  cheat,  and  a  rebel. 
It  was  no  easy  task,  either,  to  shake  to  its  foundation  a 
legitimate  sovereignty,  strengthened  by  time,  and  conse- 
crated by  laws  and  religion  ;  to  dissolve  all  the  charms 
of  the  senses  and  the  imagination,  those  formidable 
guardians  of  an  established  throne,  and  to  attempt  for- 
cibly to  uproot  those  invincible  feelings  of  duty,  which 
plead  so  loudly  and  so  powerfully  in  the  breast  of  the 
subject,  in  favor  of  his  sovereign.    But,  blinded  by  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  299 


splendor  of  a  crown,  Wallenstein  observed  not  the  pre- 
cipice that  yawned  beneath  his  feet ;  and  in  full  reliance 
on  his  own  strength,  the  common  case  with  energetic 
and  daring  minds,  he  stopped  not  to  consider  the  mag- 
nitude and  the  number  of  the  difficulties  that  opposed 
him.  Wallenstein  saw  nothing  but  an  army,  partly  in- 
different and  partly  exasperated  against  the  court,  ac- 
customed, with  a  blind  submission,  to  do  homage  to  his 
great  name,  to  bow  to  him  as  their  legislator  and  judge, 
and  with  trembling  reverence  to  follow  his  orders  as  the 
decrees  of  fate.  In  the  extravagant  flatteries  which 
were  paid  to  his  omnipotence,  in  the  bold  abuse  of  the 
court  government,  in  which  a  lawless  soldiery  indulged, 
and  which  the  wild  license  of  the  camp  excused,  he 
thought  he  read  the  sentiments  of  the  army  ;  and  the 
boldness  with  which  they  were  ready  to  censure  the 
monarch's  measures  passed  with  him  for  a  readiness  to 
renounce  their  allegiance  to  a  sovereign  so  little  respect- 
ed. But  that  which  he  had  regarded  as  the  lightest 
matter,  proved  the  most  formidable  obstacle  with  which 
he  had  to  contend ;  the  soldiers'  feelings  of  allegiance 
were  the  rock  on  which  his  hopes  were  wrecked.  De- 
ceived by  the  profound  respect  in  which  he  was  held  by 
these  lawless  bands,  he  ascribed  the  whole  to  his  own 
personal  greatness,  without  distinguishing  hew  much  he 
owed  to  himself,  and  how  much  to  the  dignity  with 
which  he  was  invested.  All  trembled  before  him,  while 
he  exercised  a  legitimate  authority,  while  obedience  to 
him  was  a  duty,  and  while  his  consequence  was  sup- 
ported by  the  majesty  of  the  sovereign.  Greatness,  in 
and  of  itself,  may  excite  terror  and  admiration  ;  but 
legitimate  greatness  alone  can  inspire  reverence  and 
submission ;  and  of  this  decisive  advantage  he  deprived 
himself,  the  instant  he  avowed  himself  a  traitor. 

Field- Marshal  Illo  undertook  to  learn  the  sentiments 
of  the  officers,  and  to  prepare  them  for  the  step  which 
was  expected  of  them.  He  began  by  laying  before  them 
the  new  orders  of  the  court  to  the  general  and  the  army; 
and  by  the  obnoxious  turn  he  skillfully  gave  to  them,  he 
found  it  easy  to  excite  the  indignation  of  the  assembly. 
After  this  well  chosen  introduction,  he  expatiated  with 
much  eloquence  upon  the  merits  of  the  army  and  the 


300 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


general,  and  the  ingratitude  with  which  the  emperor 
was  accustomed  to  requite  them.  Spanish  influence, 
he  maintained,  governed  the  court;  the  ministry  were 
in  the  pay  of  Spain ;  the  Duke  of  Friedland  alone  had 
hitherto  opposed  this  tyranny,  and  had  thus  drawn  down 
upon  himself  the  deadly  enmity  of  the  Spaniards.  To 
remove  him  from  the  command,  or  to  make  away  with 
him  entirely,  he  continued,  had  long  been  the  end  of 
their  desire  ;  and,  until  they  could  succeed  in  one  or 
other,  they  endeavored  to  abridge  his  power  in  the  field. 
The  command  was  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  King 
of  Hungary,  for  no  other  reason  than  the  better  to  pro- 
mote the  Spanish  power  in  Germany ;  because  this 
prince,  as  the  ready  instrument  of  foreign  counsels, 
might  be  led  at  pleasure.  It  was  merely  with  the  view 
of  weakening  the  army,  that  the  six  thousand  troops 
were  required  for  the  cardinal  infante  ;  it  was  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  harassing  it  by  a  winter  campaign, 
that  they  were  now  called  on,  in  this  inhospitable  sea- 
son, to  undertake  the  recovery  of  Ratisbon.  The  means 
of  subsistence  were  everywhere  rendered  difficult,  while 
the  Jesuits  and  the  ministry  enriched  themselves  with 
the  sweat  of  the  provinces,  and  squandered  the  money 
intended  for  the  pay  of  the  troops.  The  general,  aban- 
doned by  the  court,  acknowledges  his  inability  to  keep 
his  engagements  to  the  army.  For  all  the  services 
which,  for  two-and-twenty  years,  he  had  rendered  the 
House  of  Austria ;  for  all  the  difficulties  with  which  he 
had  struggled  ;  for  all  the  treasures  of  his  own,  which 
he  had  expended  in  the  imperial  service,  a  second  dis- 
graceful dismissal  awaited  him.  But  he  was  resolved 
the  matter  should  not  come  to  this;  he  was  determined 
voluntarily  to  resign  the  command,  before  it  should  be 
wrested  from  his  hands ;  and  this,  continued  the  orator, 
is  what,  through  me,  he  now  make9  known  to  his  offi- 
cers. It  was  now  for  them  to  say  whether  it  would  be 
advisable  to  lose  such  a  general.  Let  each  consider 
who  was  to  refund  him  the  sums  he  had  expended  in 
the  emperor's  service,  and  where  he  was  now  to  reap 
the  reward  of  their  bravery,  when  he  who  was  their 
evidence  removed  from  the  scene." 

A  universal  cry,  that  they  would  not  allow  their  gen- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


301 


eral  to  be  taken  from  them,  interrupted  the  speaker. 
Four  of  the  principal  officers  were  deputed  to  lay  be- 
fore him  the  wish  of  the  assembly,  and  earnestly  to 
request  that  he  would  not  leave  the  army.  The  duke 
made  a  show  of  resistance,  and  only  yielded  after  the 
second  deputation.  This  concession  on  his  side,  seemed 
to  demand  a  return  on  theirs  ;  as  he  engaged  not  to  quit 
the  service  without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the 
generals,  he  required  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
written  promise  to  truly  and  firmly  adhere  to  him, 
neither  to  separate  nor  to  allow  themselves  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  him,  and  to  shed  their  last  drop  of  blood  in 
his  defense.  Whoever  should  break  this  covenant  was 
to  be  regarded  as  a  perfidious  traitor,  and  treated  by  the 
rest  as  a  common  enemy.  The  express  condition  which 
was  added,  "  As  long  as  Wallenstein  shall  employ  the 
army  in  the  emperor's  service,"  seemed  to  exclude  all 
misconception,  and  none  of  the  assembled  generals  hes- 
itated at  once  to  accede  to  a  demand,  apparently  so 
innocent  and  so  reasonable. 

This  document  was  publicly  read  before  an  entertain- 
ment which  Field-Marshal  Illo  had  expressly  prepared 
for  the  purpose  ;  it  was  to  be  signed  after  they  rose 
from  table.  The  host  did  his  utmost  to  stupefy  his 
guests  by  strong  potations  ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  saw 
them  affected  with  the  wine  that  he  produced  the  pa- 
per for  signature.  Most  of  them  wrote  their  names, 
without  knowing  what  they  were  subscribing ;  a  few 
only,  more  curious  or  more  distrustful,  read  the  paper 
over  again,  and  discovered  with  astonishment  that  the 
clause  "as  long  as  Wallenstein  shall  employ  the  army 
for  the  emperor's  service"  was  omitted.  Illo  had,  in 
fact,  artfully  contrived  to  substitute  for  the  first  another 
copy,  in  which  these  words  were  wanting.  The  trick 
was  manifest,  and  many  refused  now  to  sign.  Picco- 
lomini,  who  had  seen  through  the  whole  cheat,  and  had 
been  present  at  this  scene  merely  with  a  view  of  giving 
information  of  the  whole  to  the  court,  forgot  himself  so 
far  in  his  cups  as  to  drink  the  emperor's  health.  But 
Count  Terzky  now  rose,  and  declared  that  all  were  per- 
jured villains  who  should  recede  from  their  engagement. 
His  menaces,  the  idea  of  the  inevitable  danger  to 


302      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


which  they  who  resisted  any  longer  would  be  exposed, 
the  example  of  the  rest,  and  Illo's  rhetoric,  at  last  over- 
came their  scruples ;  and  the  paper  was  signed  by  all 
without  exception. 

Wallenstein  had  now  effected  his  purpose  ;  but  the 
unexpected  resistance  he  had  met  with  from  the  com- 
manders roused  him  at  last  from  the  fond  illusions  in 
which  he  had  hitherto  indulged.  Beside,  most  of  the 
names  were  scrawled  so  illegibly  that  some  deceit  was 
evidently  intended.  But  instead  of  being  recalled  to  his 
discretion  by  this  warning,  he  gave  vent  to  his  injured 
pride  in  undignified  complaints  and  reproaches.  He  as- 
sembled the  generals  next  day,  and  undertook  personally 
to  confirm  the  whole  tenor  of  the  agreement  which  Illo 
had  submitted  to  them  the  day  before.  After  pouring 
out  the  bitterest  reproaches  and  abuse  against  the  court, 
he  reminded  them  of  their  opposition  to  the  proposition 
of  the  previous  day,  and  declared  that  this  circumstance 
had  induced  him  to  retract  his  own  promise.  The  gen- 
erals withdrew  in  silence  and  confusion ;  but  after  a 
short  consultation  in  the  antechamber,  they  returned  to 
apologize  for  their  late  conduct,  and  offered  to  sign  the 
paper  anew. 

Nothing  now  remained  but  to  obtain  a  similar  assur- 
ance from  the  absent  generals,  or,  on  their  refusal,  to 
seize  their  persons.  Wallenstein  renewed  his  invitation 
to  them,  and  earnestly  urged  them  to  hasten  their  arri- 
val ;  but  a  rumor  of  the  doings  at  Pilsen  reached  them 
on  their  journey,  and  suddenly  stopped  their  further 
progress.  Altringer,  on  pretense  of  sickness,  remained 
in  the  strong  fortress  of  Frauenberg.  Gallas  made  his 
appearance,  but  merely  with  the  design  of  better  quali- 
fying himself  as  an  eye-witness,  to  keep  the  emperor 
informed  of  all  Wallenstein's  proceedings.  The  intelli- 
gence which  he  and  Piccolomini  gave  at  once  converted 
the  suspicions  of  the  court  into  an  alarming  certainty. 
Similar  disclosures,  which  were  at  the  same  time  made 
from  other  quarters,  left  no  room  for  further  doubt ; 
and  the  sudden  change  of  the  commanders  in  Austria 
and  Silesia  appeared  to  be  the  prelude  to  some  impor- 
tant enterprise.  The  danger  was  pressing,  and  the 
remedy  must  be  speedy,  but  the  court  was  unwilling  to 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  303 


proceed  at  once  to  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  till 
the  regular  forms  of  justice  were  complied  with.  Se- 
cret instructions  were  therefore  issued  to  the  principal 
officers,  on  whose  fidelity  reliance  could  be  placed,  to 
seize  the  persons  of  the  Duke  of  Friedland  and  of  his 
two  associates,  Illo  and  Terzky,  and  keep  them  in  close 
confinement,  till  they  should  have  an  opportunity  of 
being  heard,  and  of  answering  for  their  conduct ;  but  if 
this  could  not  be  accomplished  quietly,  the  public  danger 
required  that  they  should  be  taken,  dead  or  alive.  At 
the  same  time,  General  Gallas  received  a  patent  com- 
mission, by  which  these  orders  of  the  emperor  were 
made  known  to  the  colonels  and  officers,  and  the  army 
was  released  from  its  obedience  to  the  traitor,  and  placed 
under  Lieutenant- General  Gallas,  till  a  new  generalis- 
simo could  be  appointed.  In  order  to  bring  back  the 
seduced  and  deluded  to  their  duty,  and  not  to  drive  the 
guilty  to  despair,  a  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed  in 
regard  to  all  offenses  against  the  imperial  majesty  com- 
mitted at  Pilsen. 

General  Gallas  was  not  pleased  with  the  honor  which 
was  done  him.  He  was  at  Pilsen,  under  the  eye  of  the 
person  whose  fate  he  was  to  dispose  of ;  in  the  power 
of  an  enemy,  who  had  a  hundred  eyes  to  watch  his 
motions.  If  Wallenstein  once  discovered  the  secret  of 
his  commission,  nothing  could  save  him  from  the  effects 
of  his  vengeance  and  despair.  But  if  it  was  thus  dan- 
gerous to  be  the  secret  depositary  of  such  a  commission, 
how  much  more  so  to  execute  it  ?  The  sentiments  of 
the  generals  were  uncertain  ;  and  it  was  at  least  doubt- 
ful whether,  after  the  step  they  had  taken,  they  would 
be  ready  to  trust  the  emperor's  promises,  and  at  once 
to  abandon  the  brilliant  expectations  they  had  built  upon 
Wallenstein's  enterprise.  It  was  also  hazardous  to  at- 
tempt to  lay  hands  on  the  person  of  a  man  who,  till  now, 
had  been  considered  inviolable;  who,  from  long  exercise 
of  supreme  power,  and  for  habitual  obedience,  had  be- 
come the  object  of  deepest  respect ;  who  was  invested 
with  every  attribute  of  outward  majesty  and  inward 
greatness ;  whose  very  aspect  inspired  terror,  and  who 
by  a  nod  disposed  of  life  and  death  !  To  seize  such  a 
man,  like  a  common  criminal,  in  the  midst  of  the  guards 


304      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  and  in  a  city  apparently 
devoted  to  him;  to  convert  the  object  of  this  deep  and 
habitual  veneration  into  a  subject  of  compassion,  or  of 
contempt,  was  a  commission  calculated  to  make  even 
the  boldest  hesitate.  So  deeply  was  fear  and  venera- 
tion for  their  general  engraven  in  the  breasts  of  the  sol- 
diers, that  even  the  atrocious  crime  of  high  treason  could 
not  wholly  eradicate  these  sentiments. 

Gallas  perceived  the  impossibility  of  executing  his 
commission  under  the  eyes  of  the  duke  ;  and  his  most 
anxious  wish  was,  before  venturing  on  any  steps,  to 
have  an  interview  with  Altringer.  As  the  long  absence 
of  the  latter  had  already  begun  to  excite  the  duke's  sus- 
picions, Gallas  offered  to  repair  in  person  to  Frauen- 
berg, and  to  prevail  on  Altringer,  his  relation,  to  return 
with  him.  Wallenstein  was  so  pleased  with  this  proof 
of  his  zeal,  that  he  even  lent  him  his  own  equipage  for 
the  journey.  Rejoicing  at  the  success  of  his  strata- 
gem, he  left  Pilsen  without  delay,  leaving  to  Count  Pic- 
colomini  the  task  of  watching  Wallenstein's  further 
movements.  He  did  not  fail,  as  he  went  along,  to  make 
use  of  the  imperial  patent,  and  the  sentiments  of  the 
troops  proved  more  favorable  than  he  had  expected. 
Instead  of  taking  back  his  friend  to  Pilsen,  he  dis- 
patched him  to  Vienna,  to  warn  the  emperor  against 
the  intended  attack,  while  he  himself  repaired  to  Upper 
Austria,  of  which  the  safety  was  threatened  by  the  near 
approach  of  Duke  Bernard.  In  Bohemia,  the  towns  of 
Budweiss  and  Tabor  were  again  garrisoned  for  the  em- 
peror, and  every  precaution  taken  to  oppose  with  energy 
the  designs  of  the  traitor. 

As  Gallas  did  not  appear  disposed  to  return,  Piccolo- 
mini  determined  to  put  Wallenstein's  credulity  once 
more  to  the  test.  He  begged  to  be  sent  to  bring  back 
Gallas,  and  Wallenstein  suffered  himself  a  second  time 
to  be  overreached.  This  inconceivable  blindness  can 
only  be  accounted  for  as  the  result  of  his  pride,  which 
never  retracted  the  opinion  it  had  once  formed  of  any 
person,  and  would  not  acknowledge,  even  to  itself,  the 
possibility  of  being  deceived.  He  conveyed  Count  Pic- 
colomini  in  his  own  carriage  to  Lintz,  where  the  latter 
immediately  followed  the  example  of  Gallas,  and  even 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  305 


went  a  step  further.  He  had  promised  the  duke  to 
return.  He  did  so,  but  it  was  at  the  head  of  an  army, 
intending  to  surprise  the  duke  in  Pilsen.  Another 
army  under  General  Suys  hastened  to  Prague,  to  se- 
cure that  capital  in  its  allegiance,  and  to  defend  it 
against  the  rebels.  Gallas,  at  the  same  time,  announced 
himself  to  the  different  imperial  armies  as  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, from  whom  they  were  henceforth  to 
receive  orders.  Placards  were  circulated  through  all 
the  imperial  camps,  denouncing  the  duke  and  his  four 
confidants,  and  absolving  the  soldiers  from  all  obedience 
to  him. 

The  example  which  had  been  set  at  Lintz  was  uni- 
versally followed  ;  imprecations  were  showered  on  the 
traitor,  and  he  was  forsaken  by  all  the  armies.  At  last, 
when  even  Piccolomini  returned  no  more,  the  mist  fell 
from  Wallenstein's  eyes,  and  in  consternation  he  awoke 
from  his  dream.  Yet  his  faith  in  the  truth  of  astrology 
and  in  the  fidelity  of  the  army  was  unshaken.  Imme- 
diately after  the  intelligence  of  Piccolomini's  defection, 
he  issued  orders,  that  in  future  no  commands  were  to 
be  obeyed,  which  did  not  proceed  directly  from  himself, 
or  from  Terzky,  or  Illo.  He  prepared,  in  all  haste,  to 
advance  upon  Prague,  where  he  intended  to  throw  off 
the  mask,  and  openly  to  declare  against  the  emperor. 
All  the  troops  were  to  assemble  before  that  city,  and  from 
thence  to  pour  down  with  rapidity  upon  Austria.  Duke 
Bernard,  who  had  joined  the  conspiracy,  was  to  support 
the  operations  of  the  duke,  with  the  Swedish  troops,  and 
to  effect  a  diversion  upon  the  Danube. 

Terzky  was  already  upon  his  march  toward  Prague  ; 
and  nothing  but  the  want  of  horses  prevented  the  duke 
from  following  him  with  the  regiments  who  still  adhered 
faithfully  to  him.  But  when,  with  the  most  anxious  ex- 
pectation, he  awaited  the  intelligence  from  Prague,  he 
suddenly  received  information  of  the  loss  of  that  town, 
the  defection  of  his  generals,  the  desertion  of  his  troops, 
the  discovery  of  his  whole  plot,  and  the  rapid  advance  of 
Piccolomini,  who  was  sworn  to  his  destruction.  Sud- 
denly and  fearfully  had  all  his  projects  been  ruined — all 
his  hopes  annihilated.  He  stood  alone,  abandoned  by  all 
to  whom  he  had  been  a  benefactor,  betrayed  by  all  on 
20  cc  2 


.306 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


whom  he  had  depended.  But  it  is  under  such  circum- 
stances that  great  minds  reveal  themselves.  Though 
deceived  in  all  his  expectations,  he  refused  to  abandon 
one  of  his  designs  ;  he  despaired  of  nothing,  so  long  as 
life  remained.  The  time  was  now  come  when  he  ab- 
solutely required  that  assistance  which  he  had  so  often 
solicited  from  the  Swedes  and  the  Saxons,  and  when  all 
doubts  of  the  sincerity  of  his  purposes  must  be  dispelled. 
And  now,  when  Oxenstiern  and  Arnheim  were  con- 
vinced of  the  sincerity  of  his  intentions,  and  were  aware 
of  his  necessities,  they  no  longer  hesitated  to  embrace 
the  favorable  opportunity,  and  to  offer  him  their  pro- 
tection. On  the  part  of  Saxony,  the  Duke  Francis 
Albert  of  Saxe-Lauenberg  was  to  join  him  with  four 
thousand  men  ;  and  Duke  Bernard,  and  the  Palatine 
Christian  of  Birkenfeld,  with  six  thousand  from  Sweden, 
all  chosen  troops. 

Wallenstein  left  Pilsen,  with  Terzky's  regiment,  and 
the  few  who  either  were,  or  pretended  to  be  faithful  to 
him,  and  hastened  to  Egra,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  king- 
dom, in  order  to  be  near  the  Upper  Palatinate,  and  to 
facilitate  his  junction  with  Duke  Bernard.  He  was  not 
yet  informed  of  the  decree  by  which  he  was  proclaimed 
a  public  enemy  and  traitor ;  this  thunder-stroke  await- 
ed him  at  Egra.  He  still  reckoned  on  the  army,  which 
General  Schafgotsch  was  preparing  for  him  in  Silesia, 
and  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  that  many,  even  of 
those  who  had  forsaken  him,  would  return  with  the  first 
dawning  of  success.  Even  during  his  flight  to  Egra  (so 
little  humility  had  he  learned  from  melancholy  experi- 
ence), he  was  still  occupied  with  the  colossal  scheme  of 
dethroning  the  emperor.  It  was  under  these  circum- 
stances, that  one  of  his  suite  asked  leave  to  offer  him  his 
advice.  "  Under  the  emperor,"  said  he,  "  your  high- 
ness is  certain  of  being  a  great  and  respected  noble  ; 
with  the  enemy,  you  are,  at  best,  but  a  precarious  king. 
It  is  unwise  to  risk  certainty  for  uncertainty.  The  en- 
emy will  avail  themselves  of  your  personal  influence, 
while  the  opportunity  lasts ;  but  you  will  ever  be  regarded 
with  suspicion,  and  they  will  always  be  fearful  lest  you 
should  treat  them  as  you  have  done  the  emperor.  Re- 
turn, then,  to  your  allegiance,  while  there  is  yet  time." 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


307 


"And  how  is  that  to  be  done  ?"  said  Wallenstein,  inter- 
rupting him.  "  You  have  forty  thousand  men-at-arms," 
rejoined  he  (meaning  ducats,  which  were  stamped  with 
the  figure  of  an  armed  man),  "  take  them  with  you,  and 
go  straight  to  the  imperial  court ;  then  declare  that  the 
steps  you  have  hitherto  taken  were  merely  designed  to 
test  the  fidelity  of  the  emperor's  servants,  and  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  loyal  from  the  doubtful ;  and  since  most 
have  shown  a  disposition  to  revolt,  say  you  are  come  to 
warn  his  imperial  majesty  against  those  dangerous  men. 
Thus  you  will  make  those  appear  as  traitors,  who  are 
laboring  to  represent  you  as  a  false  villain.  At  the  im- 
perial court,  a  man  is  sure  to  be  welcome  with  forty 
thousand  ducats,  and  Friedland  will  be  again  as  he  was 
at  the  first."  "  The  advice  is  good,"  said  Wallenstein, 
after  a  pause,  w  but  let  the  devil  trust  to  it." 

While  the  duke,  in  his  retirement  in  Egra,  was  ener 
getically  pushing  his  negotiations  with  the  enemy,  con- 
sulting the  stars,  and  indulging  in  new  hopes,  the  dagger, 
which  was  to  put  an  end  to  his  existence,  was  unsheathed 
almost  under  his  very  eyes.  The  imperial  decree  which 
proclaimed  him  an  outlaw,  had  not  failed  of  its  effect ; 
and  an  avenging  Nemesis  ordained  that  the  ungrateful 
should  fall  beneath  the  blow  of  ingratitude.  Among  his 
officers,  Wallenstein  had  particularly  distinguished  one 
Leslie,*  an  Irishman,  and  had  made  his  fortune.  This 
was  the  man  who  now  felt  himself  called  on  to  execute 
the  sentence  against  him,  and  to  earn  the  price  of  blood. 
No  sooner  had  he  reached  Egra,  in  the  suite  of  the 
duke,  than  he  disclosed  to  the  commandant  of  the  town, 
Colonel  Buttler,  and  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gordon,  two 
Protestant  Scotchmen,  the  treasonable  designs  of  the 
duke,  which  the  latter  had  imprudently  enough  commu- 
nicated to  him  during  the  journey.  In  these  two  indi- 
viduals he  had  found  men  capable  of  a  determined  reso- 
lution. They  were  now  called  on  to  choose  between 
treason  and  duty,  between  their  legitimate  sovereign 
and  a  fugitive,  abandoned  rebel;  and  though  the  latter  was 

*  Schiller  is  mistaken  as  to  this  point.  Leslie  was  a  Scotch- 
man, and  Buttler  an  Irishman  and  a  papist.  He  died  a  general  in 
the  emperor's  service,  and  founded  at  Prague  a  convent  of  Irish 
Franciscans,  which  still  exists. 


3w<3       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


their  common  benefactor,  the  choice  could  not  remain 
for  a  moment  doubtful.  They  were  solemnly  pledged 
to  the  allegiance  of  the  emperor,  and  this  duty  required 
them  to  take  the  most  rapid  measures  against  the  public 
enemy.  The  opportunity  was  favorable ;  his  evil  genius 
seemed  to  have  delivered  him  into  the  hands  of  ven- 
geance. But  not  to  encroach  on  the  province  of  justice, 
they  resolved  to  deliver  up  their  victim  alive ;  and  they 
parted  with  the  bold  resolve  to  take  their  general  pris- 
oner. This  dark  plot  was  buried  in  the  deepest  silence ; 
and  Wallenstein,  far  from  suspecting  his  impending  ruin, 
flattered  himself  that  in  the  garrison  of  Egra  he  pos- 
sessed his  bravest  and  most  faithful  champions. 

At  this  time  he  became  acquainted  with  the  imperial 
proclamations  containing  his  sentence,  and  which  had 
been  published  in  all  the  camps.  He  now  became  aware 
of  the  full  extent  of  the  danger  which  encompassed  him, 
the  utter  impossibility  of  retracing  his  steps,  his  fear- 
fully forlorn  condition,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  at 
once  trusting  himself  to  the  faith  and  honor  of  the  em- 
peror's enemies.  To  Leslie  he  poured  forth  all  the 
anguish  of  his  wounded  spirit,  and  the  vehemence  of  his 
agitation  extracted  from  him  his  last  remaining  secret. 
He  disclosed  to  this  officer  his  inteution  to  deliver  up 
Egra  and  Ellenbogen,  the  passes  of  the  kingdom,  to  the 
Palatine  of  Birkenfeld,  and,  at  the  same  time,  informed 
him  of  the  near  approach  of  Duke  Bernard,  of  whose 
arrival  he  hoped  to  receive  tidings  that  very  night.  These 
disclosures,  which  Leslie  immediately  communicated  to 
the  conspirators,  made  them  change  their  original  plan. 
The  urgency  of  the  danger  admitted  not  of  half-meas- 
ures. Egra  might  in  a  moment  be  in  the  enemy's 
hands,  and  a  sudden  revolution  set  their  prisoner  at 
liberty.  To  anticipate  this  mischance,  they  resolved  to 
assassinate  him  and  his  associates  the  following  night. 

In  order  to  execute  this  design  with  less  noise,  it  was 
arranged  that  the  fearful  deed  should  be  perpetrated  at 
an  entertainment  which  Colonel  Buttler  should  give  in 
the  castle  of  Egra.  All  the  guests,  except  Wallenstein, 
made  their  appearance,  who,  being  in  too  great  anxiety 
of  mind  to  enjoy  company,  excused  himself.  With  re- 
gard to  him,  therefore,  their  plan  must  be  again  changed  ; 


.-chiller's  thirty  years'  war.  309 


but  they  resolved  to  execute  their  design  against  the 
others.  The  three  colonels,  Illo,  Terzky,  and  William 
Kinsky,  came  in  with  careless  confidence,  and  with  them 
Captain  Neumann,  an  officer  of  ability,  whose  advice 
Terzky  sought  in  every  intricate  affair.  Previous  to 
their  arrival,  trusty  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  to  whom  the 
plot  had  been  communicated,  were  admitted  into  the 
castle,  all  the  avenues  leading  from  it  guarded,  and  six 
of  Buttler's  dragoons  concealed  in  an  apartment  close  to 
the  banqueting-room,  who,  on  a  concerted  signal,  were 
to  rush  in  and  kill  the  traitors.  Without  suspecting  the 
danger  that  hung  over  them,  the  guests  gayly  abandoned 
themselves  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  and  Wallen- 
stein's  health  was  drunk  in  full  bumpers,  not  as  a  serv- 
ant of  the  emperor,  but  as  a  sovereign  prince.  The 
wine  opened  their  hearts,  and  Illo,  with  exultation, 
boasted  that  in  three  days  an  army  would  arrive,  such 
as  Wallenstein  had  never  before  been  at  the  head  of. 
"Yes,"  cried  Neumann,  "and  then  he  hopes  to  bathe 
his  hands  in  Austrian  blood."  During  this  conversa- 
tion, the  dessert  was  brought  in,  and  Leslie  gave  the 
concerted  signal  to  raise  the  drawbridges,  while  he  him- 
self received  the  keys  of  the  gates.  In  an  instant  the 
hall  was  filled  with  armed  men,  who,  with  the  unex- 
pected greeting  of  "Long  live  Ferdinand!"  placed 
themselves  behind  the  chairs  of  the  marked  guests. 
Surprised,  and  with  a  presentiment  of  their  fate,  they 
sprang  from  the  table.  Kinsky  and  Terzky  were  killed 
upon  the  spot,  and  before  they  could  put  themselves 
upon  their  guard.  Neumann,  during  the  confusion  in 
the  hall,  escaped  into  the  court,  where,  however,  he 
was  instantly  recognized  and  cut  down.  Illo  alone  had 
the  presence  of  mind  to  defend  himself.  He  placed  his 
back  against  a  window,  from  whence  he  poured  the 
bitterest  reproaches  upon  Gordon,  and  challenged  him 
to  fight  him  fairly  and  honorably.  After  a  gallant  re- 
sistance, in  which  he  slew  two  of  his  assailants,  he  fell 
to  the  ground,  overpowered  by  numbers,  and  pierced 
with  ten  wounds.  The  deed  was  no  sooner  accom- 
plished, than  Leslie  hastened  into  the  town  to  prevent 
a  tumult.  The  sentinels  at  the  castle  gate,  seeing  him 
running  and  out  of  breath,  and  believing  he  belonged  to 


310      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


the  rebels,  fired  their  muskets  after  him,  but  without 
effect.  The  firing,  however,  aroused  the  town-guard, 
and  all  Leslie's  presence  of  mind  was  requisite  to  allay 
the  tumult.  He  hastily  detailed  to  them  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  Wallenstein's  conspiracy,  the  measures 
which  had  been  already  taken  to  counteract  it,  the  fate 
of  the  four  rebels,  as  well  as  that  which  awaited  their 
chief.  Finding  the  troops  well  disposed,  he  exacted 
from  them  a  new  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  emperor,  and  to 
live  and  die  for  the  good  cause.  A  hundred  of  Buttler's 
dragoons  were  sent  from  the  castle  into  the  town  to 
patrol  the  streets,  to  overawe  the  partisans  of  the  duke, 
and  to  prevent  tumult.  All  the  gates  of  Egra  were  at 
the  same  time  seized,  and  every  avenue  to  Wallen- 
stein's residence,  which  adjoined  the  market-place, 
guarded  by  a  numerous  and  trusty  body  of  troops,  suf 
ficient  to  prevent  either  his  escape,  or  his  receiving  any 
assistance  from  without. 

But  before  they  proceeded  finally  to  execute  the  deed, 
a  long  conference  was  held  among  the  conspirators  in 
the  castle,  whether  they  should  kill  him,  or  content 
themselves  with  making  him  prisouer.  Besprinkled  as 
they  were  with  the  blood,  and  deliberating  almost  over 
the  very  corpses  of  his  murdered  associates,  even  these 
furious  men  yet  shuddered  at  the  horror  of  taking  away 
so  illustrious  a  life.  They  saw,  before  their  mind's  eye, 
him  their  leader  in  battle,  in  the  days  of  his  good  for- 
tune, surrounded  by  his  victorious  army,  clothed  with 
all  the  pomp  of  military  greatness,  and  long  accustomed 
awe  again  seized  their  minds.  But  this  transitory 
emotion  was  soon  effaced  by  the  thought  of  the  imme- 
diate danger.  They  remembered  the  hints  which  Neu- 
mann and  Illo  had  thrown  out  at  table,  the  near  approach 
of  a  formidable  army  of  Swedes  and  Saxons,  and  they 
clearly  saw  that  the  death  of  the  traitor  was  their  only 
chance  of  safety.  They  adhered,  therefore,  to  their 
first  resolution,  and  Captain  Deveroux,  an  Irishman, 
who  had  already  been  retained  for  the  murderous  pur- 
pose, received  decisive  orders  to  act. 

While  these  three  officers  were  thus  deciding  upon 
his  fate  in  the  castle  of  Egra,  Wallenstein  was  occu- 
pied iu  reading  the  stars  with  Seni.    "  The  danger  is 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


811 


not  yet  over,"  said  the  astrologer  with  prophetic  spirit, 
w  It  25,"  replied  the  duke,  who  would  give  the  law  even 
to  heaven.  "But,"  he  continued  with  equally  prophetic 
spirit,  "  that  thou,  friend  Seni,  thyself  shall  soon  be  thrown 
into  prison,  that  also  is  written  in  the  stars."  The  astrol- 
oger had  taken  his  leave,  and  Wallenstein  had  retired 
to  bed,  when  Captain  Deveroux  appeared  before  hi? 
residence  with  six  halberdiers,  and  was  immediately 
admitted  by  the  guard,  who  were  accustomed  to  see 
him  visit  the  general  at  all  hours.  A  page,  who  met  him 
upon  the  stairs,  and  attempted  to  raise  an  alarm,  was 
run  through  the  body  with  a  pike.  In  the  antechamber, 
the  assassins  met  a  servant,  who  had  just  come  out  of 
the  sleeping-room  of  his  master,  and  had  taken  with  him 
the  key.  Putting  his  finger  upon  his  mouth,  the  terri- 
fied domestic  made  a  sign  to  them  to  make  no  noise,  as 
the  duke  was  asleep.  "  Friend,"  cried  Deveroux,  "  it 
is  time  to  awake  him;"  and  with  these  words  he  rushed 
against  the  door,  which  was  also  bolted  from  within,  and 
burst  it  open. 

Wallensiein  had  been  roused  from  his  first  sleep  by 
the  report  of  a  musket  which  had  accidentally  gone  olf, 
and  had  sprang  to  the  window  to  call  the  guard.  At  the 
same  moment,  he  heard,  from  the  adjoining  building, 
the  shrieks  of  the  countesses  Terzky  and  Kinsky,  who 
had  just  learned  the  violent  fate  of  their  husbands.  Ere 
he  had  time  to  reflect  on  these  terrible  events,  Deve- 
roux, with  the  other  murderers,  was  in  his  chamber. 
The  duke  was  in  his  shirt,  as  he  had  leaped  out  of  bed,  and 
leaning  on  the  table  near  the  window.  **  Art  thou  the 
villain,"  cried  Deveroux  to  him,  "  who  intends  to  de- 
liver up  the  emperor  s  troops  to  the  enemy,  and  to  tear 
the  crown  from  the  head  of  his  majesty  ?  Now  thou 
must  die  !"  He  paused  for  a  few  moments,  as  if  expecting 
an  answer ;  but  rage  and  astonishment  kept  Wallenstein 
silent.  Throwing  his  arms  wide  open,  he  received  ia 
his  breast  the  deadly  blow  of  the  halberds,  and,  without 
uttering  a  groan,  fell  weltering  in  his  blood. 

The  next  day  an  express  arrived  from  the  Duke  of 
Lauenburg,  announcing  his  approach.  The  messenger 
was  secured,  and  another  in  Wallenstein's  livery  dis- 
patched to  the  duke,  to  decoy  him  into  Egra.  The 


312 


schilleii's  thirty  years'  war. 


stratagem  succeeded,  and  Francis  Albei  t  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar,  who 
was  on  his  march  toward  Egra,  was  nearly  sharing  the 
same  fate.  Fortunately,  he  heard  of  Wallenstein's 
death  in  time  to  save  himself,  by  a  retreat.  Ferdinand 
shed  a  tear  over  the  fate  of  his  general,  and  ordered 
three  thousand  masses  to  be  said  for  his  soul  at  Vienna; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  he  did  not  forget  to  reward  his 
assassins  with  gold  chains,  chamberlain's  keys,  dignities, 
and  estates. 

Thus  did  Wallenstein,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  terminate 
his  active  and  extraordinary  life.  To  ambition  he  owed 
both  his  greatness  and  his  ruin  ;  with  all  his  failings,  he 
possessed  great  and  admirable  qualities,  and  had  he  kept 
himself  within  due  bounds,  he  would  have  lived  and 
died  without  an  equal.  The  virtues  of  the  ruler  anc 
of  the  hero,  prudence,  justice,  firmness,  and  courage 
are  strikingly  prominent  features  in  his  character ;  but 
he  wanted  the  gentler  virtues  of  the  man,  which  adorn 
the  hero,  and  make  the  ruler  beloved.  Terror  was  the 
talisman  with  which  he  worked  ;  extreme  in  his  punish- 
ments as  in  his  rewards,  he  knew  how  to  keep  alive  the 
zeal  of  his  followers,  while  no  general  of  ancient  or 
modern  times  could  boast  of  being  obeyed  with  equal 
alacrity.  Submission  to  his  will  was  more  prized  by 
In  m  than  bravery  ;  for,  if  the  soldiers  work  by  the  latter, 
it  is  on  the  former  that  the  general  depends.  He  con- 
tinually kept  up  the  obedience  of  his  troops  by  capri- 
cious orders,  and  profusely  rewarded  the  readiness  to 
obey  even  in  trifles  ;  because  he  looked  rather  to  the  act 
itself  than  its  object.  He  once  issued  a  decree,  with  the 
penalty  of  death  on  disobedience,  that  none  but  red 
sashes  should  be  worn  in  the  army.  A  captain  of  horse 
no  sooner  heard  the  order  than,  pulling  off  his  gold-em- 
broidered sash,  he  trampled  it  under  foot ;  Wallenstein, 
on  being  informed  of  the  circumstance,  promoted  him 
on  the  spot  to  the  rank  of  colonel.  His  comprehensive 
glance  was  always  directed  to  the  whole,  and  in  all  his 
apparent  caprice,  he  steadily  kept  in  view  some  general 
scope  or  bearing.  The  robberies  committed  by  the 
soldiers  in  a  friendly  country  had  led  to  the  severest 
orders  against  marauders ;  and  all  who  should  be  caught 


schiller'ö  thirtyt  years'  war. 


313 


thieving  were  threatened  with  the  halter.  Wallenstein 
himself,  having  met  a  straggler  in  the  open  country  upon 
the  held,  commanded  him  to  be  seized  without  trial,  as 
a  transgressor  of  the  law,  and,  in  his  usual  voice  of  thun- 
der, exclaimed,  "  Hang  the  fellow,"  against  which  no  op- 
position ever  availed.  The  soldier  pleaded  and  proved  his 
innocence,  but  the  irrevocable  sentence  had  gone  forth. 
*'  Hang,  then,  innocent,"  cried  the  inexorable  Wallenstein, 
"the  guilty  will  have  then  more  reason  to  tremble." 
Preparations  were  already  making  to  execute  the  sen- 
tence, when  the  soldier,  who  gave  himself  up  for  lost, 
formed  the  desperate  resolution  of  not  dying  without 
revenge.  He  fell  furiously  upon  his  judge,  but  was 
overpowered  by  numbers,  and  disarmed  before  he  could 
fulfill  his  design.  "Now  let  him  go,"  said  the  duke, 
"  it  will  excite  sufficient  terror." 

His  munificence  was  supported  by  an  immense  in- 
come, which  was  estimated  at  three  millions  of  florins 
yearly,  without  reckoning  the  enormous  sums  which  he 
raised  under  the  name  of  contributions.  His  liberality 
and  clearness  of  understanding  raised  him  above  the 
religious  prejudices  of  his  age  ;  and  the  Jesuits  never 
forgave  him  for  having  seen  through  their  system,  and 
for  regarding  the  Pope  as  nothing  more  than  a  bishop  of 
Rome. 

But  as  no  one  ever  yet  came  to  a  fortunate  end  who 
quarreled  with  the  Church,  Wallenstein  also  must  aug- 
ment the  number  of  its  victims.  Through  the  intrigues 
of  monks,  he  lost  at  Ratisbon  the  command  of  the  army, 
and  at  Egra  his  life  :  by  the  same  arts,  perhaps,  he  lost 
what  was  of  more  consequence,  his  honorable  name  and 
good  repute  with  posterity. 

For  in  justice  it  must  be  admitted,  that  the  pens  which 
have  traced  the  history  of  this  extraordinary  man  are 
not  untinged  with  partiality,  and  that  the  treachery  of 
the  duke,  and  his  designs  upon  the  throne  of  Bohemia, 
rest  not  so  much  upon  proven  facts  as  upon  probable 
conjecture.  No  documents  have  yet  been  brought  to 
light  which  disclose  with  historical  certainty  the  secret 
motives  of  his  conduct;  and  among  all  his  public  and  well 
attested  actions,  there  is,  perhaps,  not  one  which  could 
not  have  had  au  innocent  end.    Many  of  his  most  ob- 


3i4      schiller' s  thirty  years'  war. 


noxious  measures  proved  nothing  but  the  earnest  wish 
he  entertained  for  peace;  most  of  the  others  are  ex- 
plained and  justified  by  the  well  founded  distrust  he  en- 
tertained of  the  emperor,  and  the  excusable  wish  of 
maintaining  his  own  importance.  It  is  true  that  his 
conduct  toward  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  and  the  dictates 
of  an  implacable  spirit,  look  too  like  an  unworthy  re- 
venge ;  but  still,  none  of  his  actions  perhaps  warrant  us 
in  holding  his  treason  to  be  proved.  If  necessity  and 
despair  at  last  forced  him  to  deserve  the  sentence  which 
had  been  pronounced  against  him  while  innocent,  still 
this,  if  true,  will  not  justify  that  sentence.  Thus  Wal- 
lenstein fell,  not  because  he  was  a  rebel,  but  he  became 
a  rebel  because  he  fell.  Unfortunate  in  life  that  he 
made  a  victorious  party  his  enemy;  and  still  more  un- 
fortunate in  death,  that  the  same  party  survived  him 
and  wrote  his  history. 


BOOK  V. 

Wallenstein's  death  rendered  necessary  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  new  generalissimo ;  and  the  emperor 
yielded  at  last  to  the  advice  of  the  Spaniards  to  raise 
his  son  Ferdinand,  King  of  Hungary,  to  that  dignity. 
Under  him,  Count  Gallas  commanded,  who  perfomed 
the  functions  of  commander-in-chief,  while  the  prince 
brought  to  this  post  nothing  but  his  name  and  dignity. 
A  considerable  force  was  soon  assembled  under  Ferdi- 
nand ;  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  brought  up  a  considerable 
body  of  auxiliaries  in  person,  and  the  cardinal  infante 
joined  him  from  Italy  with  ten  thousand  men.  In  order 
to  drive  the  enemy  from  the  Danube,  the  new  general 
undertook  the  enterprise  in  which  his  predecessor  had 
failed,  the  siege  of  Ratisbon.  In  vain  did  Duke  Bernard 
of  Weimar  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  Bavaria,  with 
a  view  to  draw  the  enemy  from  the  town;  Ferdinand 
continued  to  press  the  siege  with  vigor,  and  the  city, 
after  a  most  obstinate  resistance,  was  obliged  to  open  its 
gates  to  him.    Donau werth  soon  shared  the  same  fate, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  315 

and  Nordlingen  in  Suabia  was  now  invested.  The  loss 
of  so  many  of  the  imperial  cities  was  severely  felt  by 
the  Swedish  party ;  as  the  friendship  of  these  towns 
had  so  largely  contributed  to  the  success  of  their  arms, 
indifference  to  their  fate  would  have  been  inexcusable. 
It  would  have  been  an  indellible  disgrace  had  they  de- 
serted their  confederates  in  their  need,  and  abandoned 
them  to  the  revenge  of  an  implacable  conqueror.  Moved 
by  these  considerations,  the  Swedish  army,  under  the 
command  of  Horn,  and  Bernard  of  Weimar,  advanced 
upon  Nordlingen,  determined  to  relieve  it,  even  at  the 
expense  of  a  battle. 

The  undertaking  was  a  dangerous  one,  for  in  numbers 
the  enemy  was  greatly  superior  to  that  of  the  Swedes. 
There  was  also  a  further  reason  for  avoiding  a  battle  at 
present ;  the  enemy's  force  was  likely  soon  to  divide, 
the  Italian  troops  being  destined  for  the  Netherlands. 
In  the  mean  time,  such  a  position  might  be  taken  up 
as  to  cover  Nordlingen,  and  cut  off  their  supplies.  All 
these  grounds  were  strongly  urged  by  Gustavus  Horn, 
in  the  Swedish  council  of  war ;  but  his  remonstrances 
were  disregarded  by  men  who,  intoxicated  by  a  long 
career  of  success,  mistook  the  suggestions  of  prudence 
for  the  voice  of  timidity.  Overborne  by  the  superior 
influence  of  Duke  Bernard,  Gustavus  Horn  was  com- 
pelled to  risk  a  contest,  whose  unfavorable  issue  a  dark 
foreboding  seemed  already  to  announce.  The  fate  ot 
the  battle  depended  upon  the  possession  of  a  height 
which  commanded  the  imperial  camp.  An  attempt  to 
occupy  it  during  the  night  failed,  as  the  tedious  trans- 
port of  the  artillery  through  woods  and  hollow  ways  de- 
layed the  arrival  of  the  troops.  When  the  Swedes 
arrived  about  midnight,  they  found  the  heights  in  pos- 
session of  the  enemy,  strongly  intrenched.  They 
waited,  therefore,  for  daybreak,  to  carry  them  by  storm. 
Their  impetuous  courage  surmounted  every  obstacle ; 
the  intrenchments,  which  were  in  the  form  of  a  cres- 
cent, were  fortunately  scaled  by  each  of  the  two  brig- 
ades appointed  to  the  service  ;  but  as  they  entered  at 
the  same  moment,  from  opposite  sides,  they  met  and 
threw  each  other  into  confusion.  At  this  unfortunate 
moment  a  barrel  of  powder  blew  up,  and  created  the 


316      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


greatest  disorder  among  the  Swedes.  The  imperial 
cavalry  charged  upon  their  broken  ranks,  and  the  flight 
became  universal.  No  persuasion  on  the  part  of  their 
general  could  induce  the  fugitives  to  renew  the  assault. 

He  resolved,  therefore,  in  order  to  carry  this  import- 
ant post,  to  lead  fresh  troops  to  the  attack.  But  in  the 
interim,  some  Spanish  regiments  had  marched  in,  and 
every  attempt  to  gain  it  was  repulsed  by  their  heroic 
intrepidity.  One  of  the  duke's  own  regiments  advanced 
seven  times,  and  was  as  often  driven  back.  The  disad- 
vantage of  not  occupying  this  post  in  time,  was  quickly 
and  sensibly  felt.  The  fire  of  the  enemy's  artillery 
from  the  heights  caused  such  slaughter  in  the  adjacent 
wing  of  the  Swedes,  that  Horn,  who  commanded  there, 
was  forced  to  give  orders  to  retire.  Instead  of  being 
able  to  cover  the  retreat  of  his  colleague,  and  to  check 
the  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  Duke  Bernard,  overpowered 
by  numbers,  was  himself  driven  into  the  plain,  where 
his  routed  cavalry  spread  confusion  among  Horn's  brig- 
ade, and  rendered  the  defeat  complete.  Almost  the 
entire  infantry  were  killed  or  taken  prisoners.  More 
than  twelve  thousand  men  remained  dead  upon  the  field 
of  battle  ;  eighty  field-pieces,  about  four  thousand  wag- 
ons, and  three  hundred  standards  and  colors,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  imperialists.  Horn  himself,  with  three 
other  generals,  were  taken  prisoners.  Duke  Bernard 
with  difficulty  saved  a  feeble  remnant  of  his  army, 
which  joined  him  at  Frankfort. 

The  defeat  at  Nordlingen,  cost  the  Swedish  chancel- 
lor the  second  sleepless  night*  he  had  passed  in  Ger- 
many. The  consequences  of  this  disaster  were  terri- 
ble. The  Swedes  had  lost  by  it  at  once  their  superi- 
ority in  the  field,  and  with  it  the  confidence  of  their  con- 
federates, which  they  had  gained  solely  by  their  previ- 
ous military  success.  A  dangerous  division  threatened 
the  Protestant  Confederation  with  ruin.  Consternation 
and  terror  seized  upon  the  whole  party ;  while  the  pa- 
pists arose  with  exulting  triumph  from  the  deep  humil- 
iation into  which  they  had  sunk.  Suabia  and  the  adja- 
cent circles  first  felt  the  consequences  of  the  defeat  of 
Nordlingen ;  and  Wirtemburg,  in  particular,  was  over- 
*  The  first  was  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphu». 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  317 


run  by  the  conquering  army.  All  the  members  of  the 
League  of  Heilbronn  trembled  at  the  prospect  of  the 
emperor's  revenge ;  those  who  could,  fled  to  Strasburg, 
while  the  helpless  free  cities  awaited  their  fate  with 
alarm.  A  little  more  of  moderation  toward  the  con- 
quered, would  have  quickly  reduced  all  the  weaker 
states  under  the  emperor's  authority ;  but  the  severity 
which  was  practiced,  even  against  those  who  voluntarily 
surrendered,  drove  the  rest  to  despair,  and  roused  them 
to  a  vigorous  resistance. 

In  this  perplexity,  all  looked  to  Oxenstiern  for  counsel 
and  assistance  :  Oxenstiern  applied  for  both  to  the  Ger- 
man states.  Troops  were  wanted  ;  money  likewise,  to 
raise  new  levies,  and  to  pay  to  the  old  the  arrears  which 
the  men  were  clamorously  demanding.  Oxenstiern  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony ;  but  he 
shamefully  abandoned  the  Swedish  cause,  to  negotiate 
for  a  separate  peace  with  the  emperor  at  Pirna.  He 
solicited  aid  from  the  Lower  Saxon  states ;  but  they, 
long  wearied  of  the  Swedish  pretensions  and  demands 
for  money,  now  thought  only  of  themselves ;  and  George, 
Duke  of  Lunenburg,  in  place  of  flying  to  the  assistance 
of  Upper  Germany,  laid  siege  to  Minden,  with  the  in- 
tention of  keeping  possession  of  it  for  himself.  Abandon- 
ed by  his  German  allies,  the  chancellor  exerted  himself 
to  obtain  the  assistance  of  foreign  powers.  England, 
Holland,  and  Venice  were  applied  to  for  troops  and 
money;  and,  driven  to  the  last  extremity,  the  chancellor 
reluctantly  resolved  to  take  the  disagreeable  step  which 
he  had  so  long  avoided,  and  to  throw  himself  under  the 
protection  of  France. 

The  moment  had  at  last  arrived  which  Richelieu  had 
long  waited  for  with  impatience.  Nothing,  he  was 
aware,  but  the  impossibility  of  saving  themselves  by  any 
other  means,  could  induce  the  Protestant  states  in  Ger- 
many to  support  the  pretensions  of  France  upon  Alsace. 
This  extreme  necessity  had  now  arrived ;  the  assistance 
of  that  power  was  indispensable,  and  she  was  resolved 
to  be  well  paid  for  the  active  part  which  she  was  about 
to  take  in  the  German  war.  Full  of  luster  and  dignity, 
it  now  came  upon  the  political  stage.  Oxenstiern,  who 
felt  little  reluctance  in  bestowing  the  rights  and  posses- 
dd2 


318       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


sions  of  the  empire,  had  already  ceded  the  fortress  of 
Philipsburg,  and  the  other  long  coveted  places.  The 
Protestants  of  Upper  Germany  now,  in  their  own 
names,  sent  a  special  embassy  to  Richelieu,  requesting 
him  to  take  Alsace,  the  fortress  of  Breyssach,  which 
was  still  to  be  recovered  from  the  enemy,  and  all  the 
places  upon  the  Upper  Rhine,  which  were  the  keys  of 
Germany,  under  the  protection  of  France.  What  was 
implied  by  French  protection  had  been  seen  in  the  con- 
duct of  France  toward  the  bishoprics  of  Mentz,  Toul, 
and  Verdun,  which  it  had  held  for  centuries  against  the 
rightful  owners.  Treves  was  already  in  the  possession 
of  French  garrisons;  Lorraine  was  in  a  manner  con- 
quered, as  it  might  at  any  time  be  overrun  by  an  army, 
and  could  not,  alone,  and  with  its  own  strength,  with- 
stand its  formidable  neighbor.  France  now  entertained 
the  hope  of  adding  Alsace  to  its  large  and  numerous 
possessions,  and,  as  a  treaty  was  soon  to  be  concluded 
with  the  Dutch  for  the  partition  of  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands, the  prospect  of  making  the  Rhine  its  natural 
boundary  toward  Germany.  Thus  shamefully  were  the 
rights  of  Germany  sacrificed  by  the  German  states  to 
this  treacherous  and  grasping  power,  which,  under  the 
mask  of  a  disinterested  friendship,  aimed  only  at  its  own 
aggrandizement;  and  while  it  boldly  claimed  the  honor- 
able title  of  a  Protectress,  was  solely  occupied  with 
promoting  its  own  schemes,  and  advancing  its  own  in- 
terests amid  the  general  confusion. 

In  return  for  these  important  cessions,  France  en- 
gaged to  effect  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the  Swedes,  by 
commencing  hostilities  against  the  Spaniards;  and  if 
this  should  lead  to  an  open  breach  with  the  emperor,  to 
maintain  an  army  upon  the  German  side  of  the  Rhine, 
which  was  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  Swedes  and 
Germans  against  Austria.  For  a  war  with  Spain,  the 
Spaniards  themselves  soon  afforded  the  desired  pretext. 
Making  an  inroad  from  the  Netherlands,  upon  the  city 
of  Treves,  they  cut  in  pieces  the  French  garrison ;  and, 
in  open  violation  of  the  law  of  nations,  made  prisoner  the 
elector,  who  had  placed  himself  under  the  protection  of 
France,  and  earned  him  into  Flanders.  When  the  cardi- 
nal infinite,  as  viceroy  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  refused 


schiller'h  thirty  years'  war. 


319 


satisfaction  for  these  injuries,  and  delayed  to  restore  the 
prince  to  liberty,  Richelieu,  after  the  old  custom,  form- 
ally proclaimed  war  at  Brussels  by  a  herald,  and  the 
war  was  at  once  opened  by  three  different  armies  in 
Milan,  in  the  Valteline,  and  in  Flanders.  The  French 
minister  was  less  anxious  to  commence  hostilities  with 
the  emperor,  which  promised  fewer  advantages,  and 
threatened  greater  difficulties.  A  fourth  army,  how- 
ever, was  detached  across  the  Rhine  into  Germany, 
under  the  command  of  Cardinal  Lavalette,  which  was 
to  act  in  conjunction  with  Duke  Bernard,  against  the 
emperor,  without  a  previous  declaration  of  war. 

A  heavier  blow  for  the  Swedes,  than  even  the  defeat 
of  Nordlingen,  was  the  reconciliation  of  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  with  the  emperor.  After  many  fruitless  at- 
tempts both  to  bring  about  and  to  prevent  it,  it  was  at 
last  effected  in  1634,  at  Pirna,  and,  the  following  year, 
reduced  into  a  formal  treaty  of  peace,  at  Prague.  The 
Elector  of  Saxony  had  always  viewed  with  jealousy  the 
pretensions  of  the  Swedes  in  Germany  ;  and  his  aver- 
sion to  this  foreign  power,  which  now  gave  laws  within 
the  empire,  had  grown  with  every  fresh  requisition  that 
Oxenstiern  was  obliged  to  make  upon  the  German 
states.  This  ill-feeling  was  kept  alive  by  the  Spanish 
court,  who  labored  earnestly  to  effect  a  peace  between 
Saxony  and  the  emperor.  Wearied  with  the  calamities 
of  a  long  and  destructive  contest,  which  had  selected 
Saxony  above  all  others  for  its  theater ;  grieved  by  the 
miseries  which  both  friend  and  foe  inflicted  upon  his 
subjects ;  and  seduced  by  the  tempting  propositions  of 
the  House  of  Austria,  the  elector  at  last  abandoned  the 
common  cause  ;  and,  caring  little  for  the  fate  of  his  con- 
federates, or  the  liberties  of  Germany,  thought  only  of 
securing  his  own  advantages,  even  at  the  expense  of  the 
whole  body. 

In  fact,  the  misery  of  Germany  had  risen  to  such  a 
height,  that  all  clamorously  vociferated  for  peace  ;  and 
even  the  most  disadvantageous  pacification  would  have 
been  hailed  as  a  blessing  from  heaven.  The  plains, 
which  formerly  had  been  thronged  with  a  happy  and 
industrious  population,  where  nature  had  lavished  her 
choicest  gifts,  and  plenty  and  prosperity  had  reigned, 


320       Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


were  now  a  wild  and  desolate  wilderness.  The  fields, 
abandoned  by  the  industrious  husbandman,  lay  waste 
and  uncultivated ;  and  no  sooner  had  the  young  crops 
given  the  promise  of  a  smiling  harvest,  than  a  single 
march  destroyed  the  labors  of  a  year,  and  blasted  the 
last  hope  of  an  afflicted  peasantiy.  Burnt  castles, 
wasted  fields,  villages  in  ashes,  were  to  be  seen  extend- 
ing far  and  wide  on  all  sides,  while  the  ruined  peasantry 
had  no  resource  left  but  to  swell  the  horde  of  incendia- 
ries, and  fearfully  to  retaliate  upon  their  fellows,  who 
had  hitherto  been  spared  the  miseries  which  they  them- 
selves had  suffered.  The  only  safeguard  against  op- 
pression was  to  become  an  oppressor.  The  towns 
groaned  under  the  licentiousness  of  undisciplined  and 
plundering  garrisons,  who  seized  and  wasted  the  prop- 
erty of  the  citizens,  and,  under  the  license  of  their  po- 
sition, committed  the  most  remorseless  devastation  and 
cruelty.  If  the  march  of  an  army  converted  whole 
provinces  into  deserts,  if  others  were  impoverished  by 
winter-quarters,  or  exhausted  by  contributions,  these 
still  were  but  passing  evils,  and  the  industry  of  a  year 
might  efface  the  miseries  of  a  few  months.  But  there 
was  no  relief  for  those  who  had  a  garrison  within  their 
walls,  or  in  the  neighborhood  ;  even  the  change  of  for- 
tune could  not  improve  their  unfortunate  fate,  since  the 
victor  trod  in  the  steps  of  the  vanquished,  and  friends 
were  not  more  merciful  than  enemies.  The  neglected 
farms,  the  destruction  of  the  crops,  and  the  numerous 
armies  which  overran  the  exhausted  country,  were 
inevitably  followed  by  scarcity  and  the  high  price  of  pro- 
visions, which  in  the  later  years  was  still  further  increas- 
ed by  a  general  failure  in  the  crops.  The  crowding  to- 
gether of  men  in  camps  and  quarters — want  upon  one 
side,  and  excess  on  the  other — occasioned  contagious  dis- 
tempers, which  were  more  fatal  than  even  the  sword. 
In  this  long  and  general  confusion,  all  the  bonds  of  social 
life  were  broken  up ;  respect  for  the  rights  of  their  fel- 
low-men, the  fear  of  the  laws,  purity  of  morals,  honor, 
and  religion,  were  laid  aside — might  ruled  supreme  with 
iron  scepter.  Under  the  shelter  of  anarchy  and  impu- 
nity every  vice  flourished,  and  men  became  as  wild  as 
the  country.    No  station  was  too  dignified  for  outrage, 


schtller's  thirty  years*  war.  321 


no  property  too  holy  for  rapine  and  avarice.  In  a  word, 
the  soldier  reigned  supreme ;  and  that  most  brutal  of 
despots  often  made  his  own  officer  feel  his  power. 
The  leader  of  an  army  was  a  far  more  important  person 
within  any  country  where  he  appeared,  than  its  lawful 
governor,  who  was  frequently  obliged  to  fly  before  him 
into  his  own  castles  for  safety.  Germany  swarmed  with 
these  petty  tyrants,  and  the  country  suffered  equally 
from  its  enemies  and  its  protectors.  These  wounds 
rankled  the  deeper,  when  the  unhappy  victims  recollect- 
ed that  Germany  was  sacrificed  to  the  ambition  of  for- 
eign powers,  who,  for  their  own  ends,  prolonged  the 
miseries  of  war.  Germany  bled  under  the  scourge,  to 
extend  the  conquests  and  influence  of  Sweden  ;  and  the 
torch  of  discord  was  kept  alive  within  the  empire,  that 
the  services  of  Richelieu  might  be  rendered  indispensa- 
ble in  France. 

But,  in  truth,  it  was  not  merely  interested  voices 
which  opposed  a  peace ;  and  if  both  Sweden  ao.d  the 
German  states  were  anxious,  from  corrupt  motives,  to 
prolong  the  conflict,  they  were  seconded  in  their  views 
by  sound  policy.  After  the  defeat  of  Nordlingen,  an 
equitable  peace  was  not  to  be  expected  from  the  em- 
peror :  and,  this  being  the  case,  was  it  not  too  great  a 
sacrifice,  after  sixteen  years  of  war,  with  all  its  miseries, 
to  abandon  the  contest,  not  only  without  advantage,  but 
even  with  loss  ?  What  would  avail  so  much  bloodshed, 
if  all  was  to  remain  as  it  had  been  ;  if  their  rights  and 
pretensions  were  neither  larger  nor  safer ;  if  all  that 
had  been  won  with  so  much  difficulty  was  to  be  surren- 
dered for  a  peace  at  any  cost  ?  Would  it  not  be  better 
to  endure,  for  two  or  three  years  more,  the  burdens 
they  had  borne  so  long,  and  to  reap  at  last  some  recom- 
pense for  twenty  years  of  suffering  ?  Neither  was  it 
doubtful,  that  peace  might  at  last  be  obtained  on  favora- 
ble terms,  if  only  the  Swedes  and  the  German  Protes- 
tants should  continue  united  in  the  cabinet  and  in  the 
field,  and  pursued  their  common  interests  with  a  recip- 
rocal sympathy  and  zeal.  Their  divisions  alone  had 
rendered  the  enemy  formidable,  and  protracted  the 
acquisition  of  a  lasting  and  general  peace.  And  this 
gre;it  ovfl  the  Elector  of  Saxony  had  brought  upon  the 


'322       Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Protestant  cause  by  concluding  a  separate  treaty  with 
Austria. 

He,  indeed,  had  commenced  his  negotiations  with  the 
emperor,  even  before  the  defeat  of  Nordlingen  ;  and  the 
unfortunate  issue  of  that  battle  only  accelerated  their 
conclusions.  By  it,  ail  his  confidence  in  the  Swedes 
was  lost ;  and  it  was  even  doubted  whether  they  would 
ever  recover  from  the  blow.  The  jealousies  among 
their  generals,  the  insubordination  of  the  army,  and  the 
exhaustion  of  the  Swedish  kingdom,  shut  out  any  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  effective  assistance  on  iheir  part. 
The  elector  hastened,  therefore,  to  profit  by  the  em- 
peror's magnanimity,  who,  even  after  the  battle  of  Nord- 
lingen, did  not  recall  the  conditions  previously  offered. 
While  Oxenstiern,  who  had  assembled  the  states  in 
Frankfort,  made  further  demands  upon  them  and  him, 
the  emperor,  on  the  contrary,  made  concessions;  and, 
therefore,  it  required  no  long  consideration  to  decide  be- 
tween them. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  he  was  anxious  to  escape 
the  charge  of  sacrificing  the  common  cause  and  attend- 
ing only  to  his  own  interests.  All  the  Germaaa  states, 
and  even  the  Swedes,  were  publ  cly  inv  ted  to  become 
parties  to  this  peace,  although  Saxony  and  the  emperor 
were  the  only  powers  who  deliberated  upon  it,  and  who 
assumed  the  right  to  give  law  to  Germany.  By  this 
self-appointed  tribunal,  the  grievance-  of  the  Protestants 
were  discussed,  their  rights  and  privileges  decided,  and 
even  the  fate  of  religions  determined,  without  the  pres- 
ence of  those  who  were  most  deeply  interested  in  it. 
Between  them  a  general  peace  was  re-ohed  on,  and  it 
was  to  be  enforced  by  an  imperial  army  of  execution, 
as  a  formal  decee  of  the  empire.  Whoever  opposed  t, 
was  to  be  treated  as  a  pubi  c  enemy  ;  and  thus,  contrary 
to  their  rights,  the  states  were  to  be  compelled  to  ac- 
knowledge a  law,  in  the  passing  of  which  they  had  no 
share.  Thus,  even  in  form,  the  pacification  at  Prague 
was  an  arbitrary  measure  ;  nor  was  it  less  so  in  its  con- 
tents. The  Edict  of  Restitution  had  been  the  chief 
cause  of  dispute  between  the  elector  and  the  emperor ; 
and,  therefore,  it  was  first  considered  in  their  delibera- 
tions.   Without  formally  annulling  it,  it  was  determined 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  323 


by  the  treaty  of  Prague,  that  all  the  ecclesiastical  do- 
mains holding  immediately  of  the  empire,  and,  among 
the  mediate  ones,  those  which  had  been  seized  by  the 
Protestants  subsequently  to  the  treaty  at  Passau,  should, 
for  forty  years,  remain  in  the  same  position  as  they  had 
been  in  before  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  but  without  any 
formal  decision  of  the  Diet  to  that  effect.  Before  the 
expiration  of  this  term  a  commission,  composed  of  equal 
numbers  of  both  religions,  should  proceed  to  settle  the 
matter  peaceably  and  according  to  law  ;  and  if  this  com- 
mission should  be  unable  to  come  to  a  decision,  each 
party  should  remain  in  possession  of  the  rights  which  it 
had  exercised  before  the  Edict  of  Restitution.  This 
arrangement,  therefore,  far  from  removing  the  grounds  of 
dissension,  only  suspended  the  dispute  for  a  time ;  and 
this  article  of  the  treaty  of  Prague  only  covered  the  em- 
bers of  a  future  war. 

The  bishopric  of  Magdeburg  was  to  remain  in  pos- 
session of  Prince  Augustus  of  Saxony,  and  Halberstadt 
in  that  of  the  Archduke  Leopold  William.  Four  estates 
were  taken  from  the  territory  of  Magdeburg,  and  given 
to  Saxony,  for  which  the  Administrator  of  Magdeburg, 
Christian  William,  of  Brandenburg,  was  otherwise  to  be 
indemnified.  The  dukes  of  Mecklenburg,  upon  acced- 
ing to  this  treaty,  were  to  be  acknowledged  as  rightful 
possessors  of  their  territories,  in  which  the  magnanimity 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  long  ago  reinstated  them. 
Donauwerth  recovered  its  liberties.  The  important 
claims  of  the  heirs  of  the  palatine,  however  important 
it  might  be  for  the  Protestant  cause  not  to  lose  this 
electorate  vote  in  the  Diet,  were  passed  over  in  conse- 
quence of  the  animosity  subsisting  between  the  Luther- 
ans and  the  Calvinists.  All  the  conquests  which,  in  the 
course  of  the  war,  had  been  made  by  the  German  states, 
or  by  the  League  and  the  emperor,  were  to  be  mutually 
restored  ;  all  which  had  been  appropriated  by  the  foreign 
powers  of  France  and  Sweden,  was  to  be  forcibly  wrest- 
ed from  them  by  the  united  powers.  The  troops  of  the 
contracting  parties  were  to  be  formed  into  one  imperial 
army,  which,  supported  and  paid  by  the  empire,  was, 
by  force  of  arms,  to  cany  into  execution  the  covenants 
of  the  treaty. 


324 


SCIJILLER'ri  THIRTY  YEARS*  WAR. 


As  the  peace  of  Prague  was  intended  to  serve  as  a 
general  law  of  the  empire,  those  points,  which  did  not 
immediately  affect  the  latter,  formed  the  subject  of  a 
separate  treaty.  By  it  Lusatia  was  ceded  to  the  Elect- 
or of  Saxony  as  a  fief  of  Bohemia,  and  special  articles 
guarantied  the  freedom  of  religion  of  this  country  and 
of  Silesia. 

All  the  Protestant  states  were  invited  to  accede  to  the 
U  eaty  of  Prague,  and  on  that  condition  were  to  benefit  by 
the  amnesty.  The  princes  of  Wirtemburg  and  Baden, 
whose  territories  the  emperor  was  already  in  possession 
of,  and  which  he  was  not  disposed  to  restore  uncon- 
ditionally ;  and  such  vassals  of  Austria  as  had  borne  arms 
against  their  sovereign ;  and  those  states  which,  under 
the  direction  of  Oxenstiern,  composed  the  council  of  the 
Upper  German  Circle,  were  excluded  from  the  treaty- — 
not  so  much  with  the  view  of  continuing  the  war  against 
them,  as  of  compelling  them  to  purchase  peace  at  a 
dearer  rate.  Their  territories  were  to  be  retained  in 
pledge,  till  every  thing  should  be  restored  to  its  former 
footing.  Such  was  the  treaty  of  Prague.  Equal  jus- 
tice, however,  toward  all,  might  perhaps  have  restored 
confidence  between  the  head  of  the  empire  and  its  mem- 
bers— between  the  Protestants  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics— between  the  Reformed  and  the  Lutheran  party ; 
and  the  Swedes,  abandoned  by  all  their  allies,  would,  in 
all  probability,  have  been  driven  from  Germany  with 
disgrace.  But  this  inequality  strengthened,  in  those  who 
were  more  severely  treated,  the  spirit  of  mistrust  and 
opposition,  and  made  it  an  easier  task  for  the  Swedes 
to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  war,  and  to  maintain  a  party 
in  Germany. 

The  peace  of  Prague,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
was  received  with  very  various  feelings  throughout  Ger- 
many. The  attempt  to  conciliate  both  parties,  had  ren- 
dered it  obnoxious  to  both.  The  Protestants  complained 
of  the  restraints  imposed  upon  them  ;  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics thought  that  these  hated  sectaries  had  been  favored 
at  the  expense  of  the  true  church.  In  the  opinion  of 
the  latter,  the  Church  had  been  deprived  of  its  inalien- 
able rights,  by  the  concession  to  the  Protestants  of  forty 
years'  undisturbed  possession  of  the  ecclesiastical  bene- 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  325 


fices ;  while  the  former  murmured  that  the  interests  of 
the  Protestant  church  had  been  betrayed,  because  tol- 
eration had  not  been  granted  to  their  co-religionists  in 
the  Austrian  dominions.  But  no  one  was  so  bitterly 
reproached  as  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  was  publicly 
denounced  as  a  deserter,  a  traitor  to  religion  and  the 
liberties  of  the  empire,  and  a  confederate  of  the  emperor. 

In  the  mean  time,  he  consoled  himself  with  the  tri- 
umph of  seeing  most  of  the  Protestant  states  compelled 
by  necessity  to  embrace  this  peace.  The  Elector  oi 
Brandenburg,  Duke  William  of  Weimar,  the  princes  ot 
Anhalt,  the  dukes  of  Mecklenburg,  the  dukes  of  Bruns- 
wick and  Lunenburg,  the  Hanse  towns,  and  most  of  the 
imperial  cities  acceded  to  it.  The  Landgrave  William  of 
Hesse  long  wavered,  or  affected  to  do  so,  in  order  to  gain 
time,  and  to  regulate  his  measures  by  the  course  of  events. 
He  had  conquered  several  fertile  provinces  of  Westphalia, 
and  derived  from  them  principally  the  means  of  continu- 
ing the  war;  these,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  he  was 
bound  to  restore.  Bernard,  Duke  of  Weimar,  whose 
states,  as  yet,  existed  only  on  paper,  as  a  belligerent 
power  was  not  affected  by  the  treaty,  but  as  a  general 
was  so  materially  ;  and,  in  either  view,  he  must  equally 
be  disposed  to  reject  it.  His  whole  riches  consisted  in 
his  bravery,  his  possessions  in  his  sword.  War  alone 
gave  him  greatness  and  importance,  and  war  alone  could 
realize  the  projects  which  his  ambition  suggested. 

But  of  all  who  declaimed  against  the  treaty  of  Prague, 
none  were  so  loud  in  their  clamors  as  the  Swedes,  and 
none  had  so  much  reason  for  their  opposition.  Invited 
to  Germany  by  the  Germans  themselves,  the  champions 
of  the  Protestant  church  and  the  freedom  of  the  states, 
which  they  had  defended  with  so  much  bloodshed,  and 
with  the  sacred  life  of  their  king,  they  now  saw  them- 
selves suddenly  and  shamefully  abandoned,  disappointed 
in  all  their  hopes,  without  reward  and  without  gratitude 
driven  from  the  empire  for  which  they  had  toiled  and 
bled,  and  exposed  to  the  ridicule  of  the  enemy  by  the 
very  princes  who  owed  every  thing  to  them.  No  satis- 
faction, no  indemnification  for  the  expenses  which  they 
had  incurred,  no  equivalent  for  the  conquests  which  they 
were  to  leave  behind  them,  was  provided  by  the  treaty 


326       sciiiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


of  Prague.  They  were  to  be  dismissed  poorer  than 
they  came,  or,  if  they  resisted,  to  be  expelled  by  the 
very  powers  who  had  invited  them.  The  Elector  of 
Saxony  at  last  spoke  of  a  pecuniary  indemnification, 
and  mentioned  the  small  sum  of  two  millions  five  hun- 
dred thousand  florins ;  but  the  Swedes  had  already  ex- 
pended considerably  more,  and  this  disgraceful  equiva- 
lent in  money  was  both  contrary  to  their  true  interests, 
and  injurious  to  their  pride.  "  The  electors  of  Bavaria 
and  Saxony,"  replied  Oxenstiern,  "have  been  paid  for 
their  services,  and  which,  as  vassals,  they  were  bound 
to  render  the  emperor,  with  the  possession  of  important 
provinces ;  and  shall  we,  who  have  sacrificed  our  king 
for  Germany,  be  dismissed  with  the  miserable  sum  of 
two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  florins  ?"  The  dis- 
appointment of  their  expectations  was  the  more  severe, 
because  the  Swedes  had  calculated  upon  being  recom- 
pensed with  the  duchy  of  Pomerania,  the  present  pos- 
sessor of  which  was  old  and  without  heirs.  But  the 
succession  of  this  territory  was  confirmed  by  the  treaty 
of  Prague  to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg ;  and  all  the 
neighboring  powers  declared  against  allowing  the  Swedes 
to  obtain  a  footing  within  the  empire. 

Never,  in  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  had  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Swedes  looked  more  gloomy,  than  in  the 
year  1635,  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty 
of  Prague.  Many  of  their  allies,  particularly  among  the 
free  cities,  abandoned  them  to  benefit  by  the  peace ; 
others  were  compelled  to  accede  to  it  by  the  victorious 
arms  of  the  emperor.  Augsburg,  subdued  by  famine, 
surrendered  under  the  severest  conditions  ;  Wurtzburg 
and  Coburg  were  lost  to  the  Austrians.  The  League 
of  Heilbronn  was  formally  dissolved.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  Upper  Germany,  the  chief  seat  of  the  Swedish 
power,  was  reduced  under  the  emperor.  Saxony,  on 
the  strength  of  the  treaty  of  Prague,  demanded  the 
evacuation  of  Thuringia,  Halberstadt,  and  Magdeburg. 
Philipsburg,  the  military  depot  of  France,  was  surprised 
by  the  Austrians,  with  all  the  stores  it  contained ;  and 
this  severe  loss  checked  the  activity  of  France.  To  com- 
plete the  embarrassments  of  Sweden,  the  truce  with  Po- 
land was  drawing  to  a  close.    To  support  a  war  at  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  327 


same  time  with  Poland  and  in  Germany,  was  far  beyond 
the  power  of  Sweden ;  and  all  that  remained  was  to 
choose  between  them.  Pride  and  ambition  declared  in 
favor  of  continuing  the  German  war,  at  whatever  sacri- 
fices on  the  side  of  Poland.  An  army,  however,  was 
necessary  to  command  the  respect  of  Poland,  and  to 
give  weight  to  Sweden  in  any  negotiations  for  a  truce  or 
a  peace. 

The  mind  of  Oxenstiern,  firm  and  inexhaustible  in 
expedients,  set  itself  manfully  to  meet  these  calamities, 
which  all  combined  to  overwhelm  Sweden  ;  and  his 
shrewd  understanding  taught  him  how  to  turn  even  mis- 
fortunes to  his  advantage.  The  defection  of  so  many 
German  cities  of  the  empire  deprived  him,  it  is  true,  of 
a  great  pari  of  his  former  allies,  but  at  the  same  time  it 
freed  him  from  the  necessity  of  paying  any  regard  to 
their  interests.  The  more  the  number  of  his  enemies 
increased,  the  more  provinces  and  magazines  were 
opened  to  his  troops.  The  gross  ingratitude  of  the 
states,  and  the  haughty  contempt  with  which  the  em- 
peror behaved  (who  did  not  even  condescend  to  treat 
directly  with  him  about  a  peace),  excited  in  him  tl  e 
courage  of  despair,  and  a  noble  determination  to  aikm 
tain  the  struggle  to  the  last.  The  continuance  of  war, 
however  uuloi  mt  ate  it  m  ght  prove,  could  not  render 
the  situation  of  Sweden  worse  than  it  now  w,as  :  and  if 
Germany  was  to  be  evacuated,  it  was  at  least  better  and 
nobler  to  do  so  sword  in  hand,  and  to  yield  to  force  rather 
than  to  fear. 

In  the  extremity  in  which  ihe  Swedes  were  now 
placed  by  the  desertion  of  their  allies,  they  addressed 
themselves  to  France,  who  met  them  with  the  greatest 
encouragement.  The  interests  of  the  two  crowns  were 
closely  united,  and  France  would  have  injured  herself 
by  allowing  the  Swedish  power  in  Germany  to  decline. 
The  helpless  situation  of  the  Swedes  was  rather  an  ad- 
ditional motive  with  France  to  cement  more  closely  their 
alliance,  and  to  tale  a  more  active  part  in  the  German 
war.  Since  the  alliance  with  Sweden,  at  Beerwald,  in 
1632,  France  had  maintained  the  war  against  the  em- 
peror, by  the  arms  of  Gustavus  Adolplius,  without  any 
open  or  formal  breach,  by  furnishing  subsidies  and 


328      schiller'js  thirty  years'  war. 


increasing  the  number  of  his  enemies.  But  alarmed  at 
the  unexpected  rapidity  and  success  of  the  Swedish  arms, 
France,  in  anxiety  to  restore  the  balance  of  power,  which 
was  disturbed  by  the  preponderance  of  the  Swedes, 
seemed,  for  a  time,  to  have  lost  sight  of  its  original  de- 
signs. She  endeavored  to  protect  the  Roman  Catholic 
princes  of  the  empire  against  the  Swedish  conqueror, 
by  the  treaties  of  neutrality,  and  when  this  plan  failed, 
she  even  meditated  herself  to  declare  war  against  him. 
But  no  sooner  had  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and 
the  desperate  situation  of  the  Swedish  affairs,  dispelled 
this  apprehension,  than  it  returned  with  fresh  zeal  to  its 
first  design,  and  readily  afforded,  in  this  misfortune,  the 
aid  which  in  the  hour  of  success  she  had  refused.  Freed 
from  the  checks  which  the  ambition  and  vigilance  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus  placed  upon  her  plans  of  aggrandize- 
ment, France  availed  herself  of  the  favorable  opportu- 
nity afforded  by  the  defeat  of  Nordlingen,  to  obtain  the 
entire  direction  of  the  war,  and  to  prescribe  laws  to  those 
who  sued  for  her  powerful  protection.  The  moment 
seemed  to  smile  upon  her  boldest  plans,  and  those  which 
had  fomerly  seemed  chimerical,  now  appeared  to  be  jus- 
tified by  circumstances.  She  now  turned  her  whole 
attention  to  the  war  in  Germany ;  and,  as  soon  as  she 
had  secured  her  own  private  ends  by  a  treaty  with  the 
Germans,  she  suddenly  entered  the  political  arena  as  an 
active  and  a  commanding  power.  While  the  other  bel- 
ligerent states  had  been  exhausting  themselves  in  a 
tedious  contest,  France  had  been  reserving  its  strength, 
and  maintained  the  contest  by  money  alone ;  but  now, 
when  the  state  of  things  called  for  more  active  measures, 
she  seized  the  sword,  and  astonished  Europe  by  the 
boldness  and  magnitude  of  her  undertakings.  At  the 
same  moment  she  fitted  out  two  fleets,  and  sent  six  dif- 
ferent armies  into  the  field,  while  she  subsidized  a  foreign 
crown  and  several  of  the  German  princes.  Animated  by 
this  powerful  cooperation,  the  Swedes  and  Germans 
awoke  from  their  consternation,  and  hoped,  sword  in 
hand,  to  obtain  a  more  honorable  peace  than  that  oi 
Prague.  Abandoned  by  their  confederates,  who  had 
been  reconciled  to  the  emperor,  they  formed  a  still  closer 
alliance  with  France,  which  increased  her  support  with 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  329 


their  growing  necessities,  at  the  same  time  taking  a  more 
active,  although  secret  share  in  the  German  war,  until, 
at  last,  she  threw  off  the  mask  altogether,  and  in  her 
own  name  made  an  unequivocal  declaration  of  war 
against  the  emperor. 

To  leave  Sweden  at  full  liberty  to  act  against  Austria, 
France  commenced  her  operations  by  liberating  it  from 
all  fear  of  a  Polish  war.  By  means  of  the  Count 
d'Avaux,  its  minister,  an  agreement  was  concluded  be- 
tween the  two  powers  at  Stummsdorf  in  Prussia,  by 
which  the  truce  was  prolonged  for  twenty-six  years, 
though  not  without  a  great  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the 
Swedes,  who  ceded,  by  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen,  almost 
the  whole  of  Polish  Prussia,  the  dear-bought  conquest 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  treaty  of  Beerwald  was, 
with  certain  modifications  which  circumstances  ren- 
dered necessary,  renewed  at  different  times  at  Com- 
piegne,  and  afterward  at  Wismar  and  Hamburg.  France 
had  already  come  to  a  rupture  with  Spain,  in  May,  1635, 
and  the  vigorous  attack  which  it  made  upon  that  power 
deprived  the  emperor  of  his  most  valuable  auxiliaries 
from  the  Netherlands.  By  supporting  the  Landgrave 
William  of  Cassel,  and  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar,  the 
Swedes  were  enabled  to  act  with  more  vigor  upon  the 
Elbe  and  the  Danube,  and  a  diversion  upon  the  Rhine 
compelled  the  emperor  to  divide  his  force. 

The  war  was  now  prosecuted  with  increasing  activity. 
By  the  treaty  of  Prague,  the  emperor  had  lessened  the 
number  of  his  adversaries  within  the  empire  ;  though, 
at  the  same  time,  the  zeal  and  activity  of  his  foreign 
enemies  had  been  augmented  by  it.  In  Germany  his 
influence  was  almost  unlimited,  for,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  states,  he  had  rendered  himself  absolute  master 
of  the  German  body  and  its  resources,  and  was  again 
enabled  to  act  in  the  character  of  emperor  and  sovereign. 
The  first  fruit  of  his  power  was  the  elevation  of  his  son, 
Ferdinand  III.,  to  the  dignity  of  king  of  the  Homans,  to 
which  he  was  elected  by  a  decided  majority  of  votes, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  Treves,  and  of  the 
heirs  of  the  Elector  Palatine.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  had  exasperated  the  Swedes  to  desperation,  had 
armed  the  power  of  France  against  him,  and  drawn  its 

E  E  2 


330       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


troops  into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom.  France  and 
Sweden,  with  their  German  allies,  formed,  from  this 
moment,  one  firm  and  compactly  united  power ;  the 
emperor,  with  the  German  states  which  adhered  to 
him,  were  equally  firm  and  united.  The  Swedes,  who 
no  longer  fought  for  Germany,  but  for  their  own  lives, 
showed  no  more  indulgence  ;  relieved  from  the  neces- 
sity of  consulting  their  German  allies,  or  accounting  to 
them  for  the  plans  which  they  adopted,  they  acted  with 
more  precipitation,  rapidity,  and  boldness.  Battles, 
though  less  decisive,  became  more  obstinate  and  bloody; 
greater  achievements,  both  in  bravery  and  military  skill, 
were  performed  ;  but  they  were  but  insulated  efforts ; 
and  being  neither  dictated  by  any  consistent  plan,  nor 
improved  by  any  commanding  spirit,  had  comparatively 
little  influence  upon  the  course  of  the  war. 

Saxony  had  bound  herself,  by  the  treaty  of  Prague, 
to  expel  the  Swedes  from  Germany.  From  this  mo- 
ment the  banners  of  the  Saxons  and  imperialists  were 
united  :  the  former  confederates  were  converted  into 
implacable  enemies.  The  bishopric  of  Magdeburg, 
which,  by  the  treaty,  was  ceded  to  a  prince  of  Saxony, 
was  still  held  by  the  Swedes,  and  every  attempt  to  ac- 
quire it  by  negotiation  had  proved  ineffectual.  Hostili- 
ties commenced  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony  recalling  all 
his  subjects  from  the  army  of  Banner,  which  was  en- 
camped upon  the  Elbe.  The  officers,  long  irritated 
by  the  accumulation  of  their  arrears,  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, and  evacuated  one  quarter  after  another.  As  the 
Saxons,  at  the  same  time,  made  a  movement  toward 
Mecklenburg,  to  take  Dömitz,  and  to  drive  the  Swedes 
from  Pomerania  and  the  Baltic,  Banner  suddenly  marched 
thither,  relieved  Dömitz,  and  totally  defeated  the  Saxon 
general,  Baudissin,  with  seven  thousand  men,  of  whom 
one  thousand  were  slain,  and  about  the  same  number 
taken  prisoners.  Reinforced  by  the  troops  and  artillery 
which  had  hitherto  been  employed  in  Polish  Prussia, 
but  which  the  treaty  of  Stummsdorf  rendered  unneces- 
sary, this  brave  and  impetuous  general  made,  the  fol- 
owing  year  (1636),  a  sudden  inroad  into  the  Electorate 
of  Saxony,  where  he  gratified  his  inveterate  hatred  of 
the  Saxons  by  the  most  destructive'  ravages.  Irritated 


schiller's  thtrty  years'  war  331 


by  the  memory  of  old  grievances,  which,  during  their 
common  campaigns,  he  and  the  Swedes  had  suffered 
from  the  haughtiness  of  the  Saxons,  and  now  exasper- 
ated to  the  utmost  by  the  late  defection  of  the  elector, 
they  wreaked  upon  the  unfortunate  inhabitants  all  their 
rancor.  Against  Austria  and  Bavaria  the  Swedish  sol- 
dier had  fought  from  a  sense,  as  it  were,  of  duty;  but 
against  the  Saxons  they  contended  with  all  the  energy 
of  private  animosity  and  personal  revenge,  detesting 
them  as  deserters  and  traitors  ;  for  the  hatred  of  former 
friends  is  of  all  the  most  fierce  and  irreconcilable.  The 
powerful  diversion  made  by  the  Duke  of  Weimar  and 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  upon  the  Rhine  and  in  West- 
phalia, prevented  the  emperor  from  affording  the  neces- 
sary assistance  to  Saxony,  and  left  the  whole  Electorate 
exposed  to  the  destructive  ravages  of  Banner's  army. 

At  length  the  elector,  having  formed  a  junction  with 
the  imperial  general,  Hatzfeld,  advanced  against  Magde- 
burg, which  Banner  in  vain  hastened  to  relieve.  The 
united  army  of  the  imperialists  and  the  Saxons  had 
spread  itself  over  Brandenburg,  wrested  several  places 
from  the  Swedes,  and  almost  drove  them  to  the  Baltic. 
But,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  Banner,  who  had  been 
given  up  as  lost,  attacked  the  allies  on  the  24th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1636,  at  Wittsbach,  where  a  bloody  battle  took 
place.  The  onset  was  terrific ;  and  the  whole  force  of 
the  enemy  was  directed  against  the  right  wing  of  the 
Swedes,  which  was  led  by  Banner  in  person.  The 
contest  was  long  maintained  with  equal  animosity  and 
obstinacy  on  both  sides.  Scarcely  a  squadron  among 
the  Swedes,  which  did  not  return  ten  times  to  the 
charge,  and  was  as  often  repulsed ;  when  at  last,  Ban- 
ner was  obliged  to  retire  before  the  superior  numbers  of 
the  enemy.  His  left  wing  sustained  the  combat  until 
night,  and  the  second  line  of  the  Swedes,  which  had  not 
as  yet  been  engaged,  was  prepared  to  renew  it  the  next 
morning.  But  the  elector  did  not  wait  for  a  second 
attack.  His  army  was  exhausted  by  the  efforts  of  the 
preceding  day ;  and,  as  the  drivers  had  fled  with  the 
horses,  his  artillery  was  unserviceable.  He  accordingly 
retreated  in  the  night,  with  Count  Hatzfeld,  and  relin- 
quished the  ground  to  the  Swedes.    About  five  thou- 


332       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

sand  of  the  allies  fell  upon  the  field,  exclusive  of  those 
who  were  killed  in  the  pursuit,  or  who  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  exasperated  peasantry.  One  hundred  and 
fifty  standards  and  colors,  twenty-three  pieces  of  cannon, 
the  whole  baggage  and  silver  plate  of  the  elector,  were 
captured,  and  more  than  two  thousand  men  taken  pris- 
oners. This  brilliant  victory,  achieved  over  an  enemy 
far  superior  in  numbers,  and  in  a  very  advantageous  po- 
sition, restored  the  Swedes  at  once  to  their  former  rep- 
utation ;  their  enemies  were  discouraged,  and  their 
friends  inspired  with  new  hopes.  Banner  instantly  fol- 
lowed up  this  decisive  success,  and  hastily  crossing  the 
Elbe,  drove  the  imperialists  before  him,  through  Thu- 
ringia  and  Hesse,  into  Westphalia.  He  then  returned, 
and  took  up  his  winter-quarters  in  Saxony. 

But,  without  the  material  aid  furnished  by  the  diver- 
sion upon  the  Rhine,  and  the  activity  there  of  Duke 
Bernard  and  the  French,  these  important  successes 
would  have  been  unattainable.  Duke  Bernard,  after  the 
defeat  at  Nordlingen,  reorganized  his  broken  army  at 
Wetterau ;  but,  abandoned  by  the  confederates  of  the 
League  of  Heilbronn,  which  had  been  dissolved  by  the 
peace  of  Prague,  and  receiving  little  support  from  the 
Swedes,  he  found  himself  unable  to  maintain  an  army, 
or  to  perform  any  enterprise  of  importance.  The  de- 
feat at  Nordlingen  had  terminated  all  his  hopes  on  the 
Duchy  of  Franconia,  while  the  weakness  of  the  Swedes 
destroyed  the  chance  of  retrieving  his  fortunes  through 
their  assistance.  Tired,  too,  of  the  constraint  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  imperious  chancellor,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  France,  who  could  easily  supply  him  with 
money,  the  only  aid  which  he  required,  and  France 
readily  acceded  to  his  proposals.  Richelieu  desired 
nothing  so  much  as  to  diminish  the  influence  of  the 
Swedes  in  the  German  war,  and  to  obtain  the  direction 
of  it  for  himself.  To  secure  this  end,  nothing  appeared 
more  effectual  than  to  detach  from  the  Swedes  their 
bravest  general,  to  win  him  to  the  interests  of  France, 
and  to  secure  for  the  execution  of  its  projects  the  ser- 
vices of  his  army.  From  a  prince  like  Bernard,  who 
could  not  maintain  himself  without  foreign  support, 
France  had  nothing  to  fear,  since  no  success,  however 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  333 


brilliant,  could  render  him  independent  of  that  crown. 
Bernard  himself  came  into  France,  and  in  October,  1635, 
concluded  a  treaty  at  St.  Germaine  en  Laye,  not  as  a 
Swedish  general,  but  in  his  own  name,  by  which  it  was 
stipulated  that  he  should  receive  for  himself  a  yearly 
pension  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  livres,  and 
four  millions  for  the  support  of  his  army,  which  he  was 
to  command  under  the  orders  of  the  French  king.  To 
inflame  his  zeal,  and  to  accelerate  the  conquest  of  Al- 
sace, France  did  not  hesitate,  by  a  secret  article,  to 
promise  him  that  province  for  his  services ;  a  promise 
which  Richelieu  had  little  intention  of  performing,  and 
which  the  duke  also  estimated  at  its  real  worth.  But 
Bernard  confided  in  his  good  fortune,  and  in  his  arms, 
and  met  artifice  with  dissimulation.  If  he  could  once 
succeed  in  wresting  Alsace  from  the  enemy,  he  did  not 
despair  of  being  able,  in  case  of  need,  to  maintain  it  also 
against  a  friend.  He  now  raised  an  army  at  the  expense 
of  France,  which  he  commanded  nominally  under  the 
orders  of  that  power,  but  in  reality  without  any  limita- 
tion whatever,  and  without  having  wholly  abandoned  his 
engagements  with  Sweden.  He  began  his  operations 
upon  the  Rhine,  where  another  French  army,  under 
Cardinal  Lavalette,  had  already,  in  1635,  commenced 
hostilities  against  the  emperor. 

Against  this  force  the  main  body  of  the  imperialists, 
after  the  great  victory  at  Nordlingen,  and  the  reduction 
of  Suabia  and  Franconia,  had  advanced  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gallas,  had  driven  them  as  far  as  Mentz,  cleared 
the  Rhine,  and  took  from  the  Swedes  the  towns  of  Mentz 
and  Frankenthal,  of  which  they  were  in  possession. 
But  frustrated  by  the  vigorous  resistance  of  the  French, 
in  his  main  object,  of  taking  up  his  winter-quarters  in 
France,  he  led  back  his  exhausted  troops  into  Alsace 
and  Suabia.  At  the  opening  of  the  next  campaign,  he 
passed  the  Rhine  at  Breysach,  and  prepared  to  carry 
the  war  into  the  interior  of  France.  He  actually  en- 
tered Burgundy,  penetrated  into  Picardy ;  and  John  de 
Werth,  a  formidable  general  of  the  League,  and  a  cele- 
brated partisan,  pushed  his  march  into  Champagne,  and 
spread  consternation  even  to  the  gates  of  Paris.  But 
m  insignificant  fortress  in  Franche  Comte  completely 


331:  SCHILLE&'d   TU  IK  TY   YEARS*  WAR. 


checked  the  progress  of  the  imperialists;  and  they  were 
obliged,  a  second  time,  to  abandon  their  enterprise. 

The  activity  of  Duke  Bernard  had  hitherto  been  im- 
peded by  his  dependence  on  a  French  general,  more 
suited  to  the  priestly  robe  than  to  the  baton  of  command  ; 
and  although,  in  conjunction  with  him,  he  conquered 
Alsace  Saverne,  he  found  himself  unable,  in  the  years 
1636  and  1637,  to  maintain  his  position  upon  the  Rhine. 
The  ill  success  of  the  French  arms  in  the  Netherlands 
had  checked  the  activity  of  operations  in  Alsace  and 
Breisgau;  but  in  1638  the  war  in  that  quarter  took  a 
aiore  brilliant  turn.  Relieved  from  his  former  restraint, 
and  with  unlimited  command  of  his  troops,  Duke  Ber- 
nard, in  the  beginning  of  February,  left  his  winter-quar- 
ters in  the  bishopric  of  Basle,  and  unexpectedly  appeared 
upon  the  Rhine,  where  at  this  rude  season  of  the  year, 
an  attack  was  little  anticipated.  The  forest  towns  of 
Laufenburg,  Waldschut,  and  Seckingen  were  surprised, 
and  Rhinefeldt  besieged.  The  Duke  of  Savelli,  the 
imperial  general  who  commanded  in  that  quarter,  hast- 
ened by  forced  marches  to  the  relief  of  this  important 
place,  succeeded  in  raising  the  siege,  and  compelled  the 
Duke  of  Weimar,  with  great  loss,  to  retire.  But,  con- 
trary to  all  human  expectation,  he  appeared  on  the  third 
day  after  (21st  February,  1638),  before  the  imperialists, 
in  order  of  battle,  and  defeated  them  in  a  bloody  engage- 
ment, in  which  the  four  imperial  generals,  Savelli,  John 
de  Werth,  Enkeford,  and  Sperreuter,  with  two  thou- 
sand men,  were  taken  prisoners.  Two  of  these,  De 
Werth  and  Enkeford,  were  afterward  sent  by  Riche- 
lieu's orders  into  France,  in  order  to  flatter  the  vanity 
of  the  French  by  the  sight  of  such  distinguished  pris- 
oners, and,  by  the  pomp  of  military  trophies,  to  withdraw 
the  attention  of  the  populace  from  the  public  distress. 
The  captured  standards  and  colors  were,  with  the  same 
view,  carried  in  solemn  procession  to  the  church  of 
Notre  Dame,  thrice  exhibited  before  the  altar,  and  com- 
mitted to  sacred  custody. 

The  taking  of  Rhinefeldt,  Röteln,  and  Friburg,  was 
the  immediate  consequence  of  the  duke's  victoiy.  His 
army  now  increased  by  considerable  recruits,  and  his 
projects  expanded  in  proportion  as  fortune  favored  him. 


SCHILLER'ri   THIRTY   YEARö'   WAR.  335 


The  fortress  of  Breysach  upon  the  Rhine  was  looked 
upon  as  holding  the  command  of  that  river,  and  as  the 
key  of  Alsace.  No  place  in  this  quarter  was  of  more 
importance  to  the  emperor,  and  upon  none  had  more 
care  been  bestowed.  To  protect  Breysach,  was  prin- 
cipally the  determination  of  the  Italian  army,  under  the 
Duke  of  Feria  ;  the  strength  of  its  works,  and  its  natu- 
ral defenses,  bade  defiance  to  assault,  while  the  imperial 
generals  who  commanded  in  that  quarter  had  orders  to 
retain  it  at  any  cost.  But  the  duke,  trusting  to  his  good 
fortune,  resolved  to  attempt  the  siege.  Its  strength 
rendered  it  impregnable  ;  it  could,  therefore,  only  be 
starved  into  a  surrender ;  and  this  was  faciliated  by  the 
carelessness  of  the  commandant,  who,  expecting  no  at- 
tack, had  been  selling  off  his  stores.  As  under  these, 
circumstances  the  town  could  not  long  hold  out,  it  must 
be  immediately  relieved  or  victualed.  Accordingly,  the 
imperial  general,  Goetz,  rapidly  advanced  at  the  head  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  accompanied  by  three  thousand 
wagons  loaded  with  provisions,  which  he  intended  to 
throw  into  the  place.  But  he  was  attacked  with  such 
vigor  by  Duke  Bernard  at  Witteweyer,  that  he  lost  his 
whole  force,  except  three  thousand  men.  together  with 
the  entire  transport.  A  similar  fate  at  Ochsenfeld,  near 
Thann,  overtook  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  who,  with  five 
or  six  thousand  men,  advanced  to  relieve  the  fortress. 
After  a  third  attempt  of  General  Goetz  for  the  relief  of 
Breysach  had  proved  ineffectual,  the  fortress,  reduced 
to  the  greatest  extremity  by  famine,  surrendered,  after 
a  blockade  of  four  months,  on  the  17th  December,  1638, 
to  its  equally  persevering  and  humane  conqueror. 

The  capture  of  Breysach  opened  a  boundless  field  to 
the  ambition  of  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  and  the  romance 
of  his  hopes  was  fast  approaching  to  reality.  Far  from 
intending  to  surrender  his  conquests  to  Fi  ance,  he  des- 
tined Breysach  for  himself,  and  revealed  this  intention 
by  exacting  allegiance  from  the  vanquished,  in  his  own 
name,  and  not  in  that  of  any  other  power.  Intoxicated 
by  his  past  success,  and  excited  by  the  boldest  hopes, 
he  believed  that  he  should  be  able  to  maintain  his  con- 
quests, even  against  France  herself.  At  a  time  when 
overy  thing  depended  upon  bravery,  when  even  personal 


336      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


strength  was  of  importance,  when  troops  and  generals 
were  of  more  value  than  territories,  it  was  natural  for  a 
hero  like  Bernard  to  place  confidence  in  his  own  powers, 
and,  at  the  head  of  an  excellent  army,  who  under  his 
command  had  proved  invincible,  to  believe  himself  capa- 
ble of  accomplishing  the  boldest  and  largest  designs.  In 
order  to  secure  himself  one  friend  among  the  crowd  of 
enemies  whom  he  was  about  to  provoke,  he  turned  his 
eyes  upon  the  Landgravine  Amelia  of  Hesse,  the  widow 
of  the  lately  deceased  Landgrave  William,  a  princess 
whose  talents  were  equal  to  her  courage,  and  who, 
along  with  her  hand,  would  bestow  valuable  conquests, 
an  extensive  principality,  and  a  well  disciplined  army. 
By  the  union  of  the  conquests  of  Hesse  with  his  own 
upon  the  Rhine,  and  the  junction  of  their  forces,  a  power 
of  some  importance,  and  perhaps  a  third  party,  might  be 
formed  in  Germany,  which  might  decide  the  fate  of  the 
war.  But  a  premature  death  put  a  period  to  these  ex- 
tensive schemes. 

"Courage,  Father  Joseph,  Breysach  is  ours!"  whis- 
pered Richelieu  in  the  ear  of  the  capuchin,  who  had  long 
held  himself  in  readiness  to  be  dispatched  into  that 
quarter ;  so  delighted  was  he  with  this  joyful  intelli- 
gence. Already  in  imagination  he  held  Alsace,  Breis- 
gau,  and  all  the  frontiers  of  Austria  in  that  quarter,  with- 
out regard  to  his  promise  to  Duke  Bernard.  But  the 
firm  determination  which  the  latter  had  unequivocally 
shown,  to  keep  Breysach  for  himself,  greatly  embar- 
rassed the  cardinal,  and  no  efforts  were  spared  to  retain 
the  victorious  Bernard  in  the  interests  of  France.  He 
was  invited  to  court,  to  witness  the  honors  by  which  his 
triumph  was  to  be  commemorated ;  but  he  perceived 
and  shunned  the  seductive  snare.  The  cardinal  even 
went  so  far  as  to  offer  him  the  hand  of  his  niece  in 
marriage ;  but  the  proud  German  prince  declined  the 
offer,  and  refused  to  sully  the  blood  of  Saxony  by  a  mis- 
alliance. He  was  now  considered  as  a  dangerous  enemy, 
and  treated  as  such.  His  subsidies  were  withdrawn  ; 
and  the  governor  of  Breysach  and  his  principal  officers 
were  bribed,  at  least  upon  the  event  of  the  duke's  death, 
to  take  possession  of  his  conquests,  and  to  secure  his 
troops.    These  intrigues  were  no  secret  to  the  duke, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


3:37 


and  the  precautions  he  took  in  the  conquered  places 
clearly  bespoke  his  distrust  of  France.  But  this  mis- 
understanding with  the  French  court  had  the  most  pre- 
judicial influence  upon  his  future  operations.  The  prep- 
arations he  was  obliged  to  make,  in  order  to  secure  his 
conquests  against  an  attack  on  the  side  of  France,  com- 
pelled him  to  divide  his  military  strength,  while  the 
stoppage  of  his  subsidies  delayed  his  appearance  in  the 
field.  It  had  been  his  intention  to  cross  the  Rhine,  to 
support  the  Swedes,  and  to  act  against  the  emperor  and 
Bavaria  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube.  He  had  already 
communicated  his  plan  of  operations  to  Banner,  who 
was  about  to  cany  the  war  into  the  Austrian  territories, 
and  had  promised  to  relieve  him  so,  when  a  sudden 
death  cut  short  his  heroic  career,  in  the  thirty-sixth 
year  of  his  age,  at  Neuburg  upon  the  Rhine  (in  July, 
1639). 

He  died  of  a  pestilential  disorder,  which,  in  the  course 
of  two  days,  had  carried  off  nearly  four  hundred  men  in 
his  camp.  The  black  spots  which  appeared  upon  his 
body,  his  own  dying  expressions,  and  the  advantages 
which  France  was  likely  to  reap  from  his  sudden  de- 
cease, gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  that  he  had  been  removed 
by  poison — a  suspicion  sufficiently  refuted  by  the  symp- 
toms of  his  disorder.  In  him,  the  allies  lost  their  great- 
est general  after  Gustavus  Adolphus,  France  a  formida- 
ble competitor  for  Alsace,  and  the  emperor  his  most 
dangerous  enemy.  Trained  to  the  duties  of  a  soldier 
and  a  general  in  the  school  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  he 
successfully  imitated  his  eminent  model,  and  wanted 
only  a  longer  life  to  equal,  if  not  to  surpass  it.  With 
the  braveiy  of  the  soldier,  he  united  the  calm  and  cool 
pe netration  of  the  general ;  the  persevering  fortitude  of 
the  man,  with  the  daring  resolution  of  youth ;  with  the 
wild  ardor  of  the  warrior,  the  sober  dignity  of  the  prince, 
the  moderation  of  the  sage,  and  the  conscientiousness  of 
the  man  of  honor.  Discouraged  by  no  misfortune,  he 
quickly  rose  again  in  full  vigor  from  the  severest  defeats; 
no  obstacles  could  check  his  enterprise,  no  disappointments 
conquer  his  indomitable  perseverance.  His  genius,  per- 
haps, soared  after  unattainable  objects;  but  the  pru- 
dence of  such  men  is  to  be  measured  by  a  different 
2:2  F  f 


338       schiller's  thirty  teaäs'  war. 


standard  from  that  of  ordinary  people.  Capable  of  ac 
complishing  more,  he  might  venture  to  form  more  dar- 
ing plans.  Bernard  affords,  in  modern  history,  a  splen- 
did example  of  those  days  of  chivalry,  when  personal 
greatness  had  its  full  weight  and  influence,  when  indi- 
vidual bravery  could  conquer  provinces,  and  the  heroic 
exploits  of  a  German  knight  raise  him  even  to  the  im- 
perial throne. 

The  best  part  of  the  duke's  possessions  were  his 
army,  which,  together  with  Alsace,  he  bequeathed  to 
his  brother  William.  But  to  this  army,  both  France 
and  Sweden  thought  they  had  well  grounded  claims : 
the  latter,  because  it  had  been  raised  in  name  of  that 
crown,  and  had  done  homage  to  it ;  the  former,  because 
it  had  been  supported  by  its  subsidies.  The  electoral 
prince  of  the  Palatinate  also  negotiated  for  its  services, 
and  attempted,  first  by  his  agents,  and  latterly  in  his 
own  person,  to  win  it  over  to  his  interests,  with  the 
view  of  employing  it  in  the  reconquest  of  his  territories. 
Even  the  emperor  endeavored  to  secure  it,  a  circum- 
stance the  less  surprising,  when  we  reflect  that  at  this 
time  the  justice  of  the  cause  was  comparatively  unim- 
portant, and  the  extent  of  the  recompense  the  main  ob- 
ject to  which  the  soldier  looked  ;  and  when  bravery, 
like  every  other  commodity,  was  disposed  of  to  the  high- 
est bidder.  But  France,  richer  and  more  determined, 
outbid  all  competitors:  it  bought  over  General  Erlach, 
the  commander  of  Breysach,  and  the  other  officers,  who 
soon  placed  that  fortress,  with  the  whole  army,  in  their 
hands. 

The  young  palatine,  Prince  Charles  Louis,  who  had 
already  made  an  unsuccessful  campaign  against  the  em- 
peror, saw  his  hopes  again  deceived.  Although  intend- 
ing to  do  France  so  ill  a  service,  as  to  compete  with  her 
for  Bernard's  army,  he  had  the  imprudence  to  travel 
through  that  kingdom.  The  cardinal,  who  dreaded  the 
justice  of  the  palatine's  cause,  was  glad  to  seize  any  op- 
portunity to  frustrate  his  views.  He  accordingly  caused 
him  to  be  seized  at  Moulin,  in  violation  of  the  law  of  na- 
tions, and  did  not  set  him  at  liberty  until  lie  learned 
that  the  army  of  the  Duke  of  Weimar  had  been  secur- 
ed.   France  was  now  in  possession  of  a  numerous  and 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  339 


well  disciplined  army  in  Germany,  and  from  this  mo- 
ment began  to  make  open  war  upon  the  emperor- 
But  it  was  no  longer  against  Ferdinand  II.  that  its 
hostilities  were  to  be  conducted ;  for  that  prince  had 
died  in  February,  1637,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his 
age.  The  war  which  his  ambition  had  kindled,  how- 
ever, survived  him.  During  a  reign  of  eighteen  years 
he  had  never  once  laid  aside  the  sword,  nor  tasted  the 
blessings  of  peace  as  long  as  his  hand  swayed  the  impe- 
rial scepter.  Endowed  with  the  qualities  of  a  good 
sovereign,  adorned  with  many  of  those  virtues  which 
insure  the  happiness  of  a  people,  and  by  nature  gentle 
and  humane,  we  see  him,  from  erroneous  ideas  of  the 
monarch's  duty,  become  at  once  the  instrument  and  the 
victim  of  the  evil  passions  of  others  ;  his  benevolent  in- 
tentions frustrated,  and  the  friend  of  justice  converted 
into  the  oppressor  of  mankind,  the  enemy  of  peace,  and 
the  scourge  of  his  people.  Amiable  in  domestic  life,  and 
respectable  as  a  sovereign,  but  in  his  policy  ill  advised, 
while  he  gained  the  love  of  his  Roman  Catholic  sub- 
jects, he  incurred  the  execration  of  the  Protestants. 
History  exhibits  many  and  greater  despots  than  Ferdi- 
nand II.,  yet  he  alone  has  had  the  unfortunate  celebrity 
of  kindling  a  thirty  years'  war  ;  but  to  produce  its  lament- 
able consequences,  his  ambition  must  have  been  second- 
ed by  a  kindred  spirit  of  the  age,  a  congenial  state  of 
previous  circumstances,  and  existing  seeds  of  discord. 
At  a  less  turbulent  period,  the  spark  would  have  found 
no  fuel ;  and  the  peacefulness  of  the  age  would  have 
choked  the  voice  of  individual  ambition  ;  but  now  the 
flash  fell  upon  a  pile  of  accumulated  combustibles,  and 
Europe  was  in  flames. 

His  son,  Ferdinand  III.,  who,  a  few  months  before 
his  father's  death,  had  been  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
King  of  the  Romans,  inherited  his  throne,  his  principles, 
and  the  war  which  he  had  caused.  But  Ferdinand  III. 
had  been  a  closer  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  devastation  of  the  country,  and  felt  more 
keenly  and  ardently  the  necessity  of  peace.  Less  influ- 
enced by  the  Jesuits  and  the  Spaniards,  and  more  mod- 
erate toward  the  religious  views  of  others,  he  was  more 
likely  than  his  father  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason. 


340       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


He  did  so,  and  ultimately  restored  to  Europe  the  bless- 
ing of  peace,  but  not  till  after  a  contest  of  eleven  years 
waged  with  sword  and  pen ;  not  till  after  he  had  expe- 
rienced the  impossibility  of  resistance,  and  necessity  had 
laid  upon  him  its  stern  laws. 

Fortune  favored  him  at  the  commencement  of  his 
reign,  and  his  arms  were  victorious  against  the  Swedes. 
The  latter,  under  the  command  of  the  victorious  Ban- 
ner, had,  after  then-  success  at  Wittstock,  taken  up  their 
winter-quarters  in  Saxony;  and  the  campaign  of  1637 
opened  with  the  siege  of  Leipzig.  The  vigorous  resist- 
ance of  the  garrison,  and  the  approach  of  the  electoral 
and  imperial  armies,  saved  the  town,  and  Banner,  to 
prevent  his  communication  with  the  Elbe  being  cut  off, 
was  compelled  to  retreat  into  Torgau.  But  the  supe- 
rior number  of  the  imperialists  drove  him  even  from 
that  quarter;  and,  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  hemmed 
in  by  rivers,  and  suffering  from  famine,  he  had  no  course 
open  to  him  but  to  attempt  a  highly  dangerous  retreat 
into  Pomerania,  of  which  the  boldness  and  successful 
issue  border  upon  romance.  The  whole  army  crossed 
the  Oder,  at  a  ford  near  Furstenberg;  and  the  soldiers, 
wading  up  to  their  necks  in  water,  dragged  the  artillery 
across,  when  the  horses  refused  to  draw.  Banner  had 
expected  to  be  joined  by  General  Wrangel,  on  the  far- 
ther side  of  the  Oder  in  Pomerania;  and,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  him,  to  be  able  to  make  head  against  the  ene- 
my. But  Wrangel  did  not  appear;  and  in  his  stead,  he 
joined  an  imperial  army  posted  at  Landsberg  with  a 
view  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  Swedes.  Banner  now 
saw  that  he  had  fallen  into  a  dangerous  snare,  from 
which  escape  appeared  impossible.  In  his  rear  lay  an 
exhausted  country,  the  imperialists  and  the  Oder  on  his 
left;  the  Oder,  too,  guarded  by  the  imperial  general, 
Bucheim,  offered  no  retreat;  in  front,  Landsberg,  Cus- 
trin,  and  Warta,  and  a  hostile  army ;  and  on  the  right, 
Poland,  in  which,  notwithstanding  the  truce,  little  con- 
fidence could  be  placed.  In  these  circumstances,  his 
position  seemed  hopeless,  and  the  imperialists  were 
already  triumphing  in  the  certainty  of  his  fall.  Ban- 
ner, with  just  indignation,  accused  the  French  as  the 
authors  of  this  misfortune.     They  had  neglected  to 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  341 


make,  according  to  their  promise,  a  diversion  upon  the 
jtthine  ;  and,  by  their  inaction,  allowed  the  emperor  to 
combine  his  whole  force  upon  the  Swedes.  "When 
the  day  comes,"  cried  the  incensed  general  to  the 
French  commissioner,  who  followed  the  camp,  "that 
the  Swedes  and  Germans  join  their  arms  against  France, 
we  shall  cross  the  Rhine  with  less  ceremony."  But 
reproaches  were  now  useless  ;  what  the  emergency  de- 
manded was  energy  and  resolution.  In  the  hope  of 
drawing  the  enemy  by  stratagem  from  the  Oder,  Ban- 
ner pretended  to  march  toward  Poland,  and  dispatched 
the  greater  part  of  his  baggage  in  this  direction,  with 
his  own  wife,  and  those  of  the  other  officers.  The  im- 
perialists immediately  broke  up  their  camp,  and  hurried 
toward  the  Polish  frontier  to  block  up  the  route  ;  Bu- 
cheim  left  his  station,  and  the  Oder  was  stripped  of  its 
defenders.  On  a  sudden,  and  under  cloud  of  night, 
Banner  turned  toward  that  river,  and  crossed  it  about  a 
mile  above  Custrin,  with  his  troops,  baggage,  and  artil- 
lery, without  bridges  or  vessels,  as  he  had  done  before 
at  Furstenberg.  He  reached  Pomerania  without  loss, 
and  prepared  to  share  with  Wrangel  the  defense  of  that 
province. 

But  the  imperialists,  under  the  command  of  Gallas, 
entered  that  duchy  at  Ribses,  and  overran  it  by  their 
superior  strength.  Usedom  and  Wolgast  were  taken 
by  storm,  Demmin  capitulated,  and  the  Swedes  were 
driven  far  into  Lower  Pomerania.  It  was,  too,  more 
important  for  them  at  this  moment  than  ever,  to  main- 
tain a  footing  in  that  country ;  for  Bogislaus  XIV.  had 
died  that  year,  and  Sweden  must  prepare  to  establish 
its  title  to  Pomerania.  To  prevent  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg from  making  good  the  title  to  that  duchy,  which 
the  treaty  of  Prague  had  given  him,  Sweden  exerted 
her  utmost  energies,  and  supported  its  generals  to  the 
extent  of  her  ability,  both  with  troops  and  money.  In 
other  quarters  of  the  kingdom  the  affairs  of  the  Swedes 
began  to  wear  a  more  favorable  aspect,  and  to  recover 
from  the  humiliation  into  which  they  had  been  thrown 
by  the  inaction  of  France,  and  the  desertion  of  their 
allies.  For,  after  their  hasty  retreat  into  Pomerania,  they 
had  lost  one  place  after  another  in  Upper  Saxony ;  the 
f  f  2 


342      schiller's  thtrty  fears'  war. 


princes  of  Mecklenburg,  closely  pressed  by  the  troops  of 
the  emperor,  began  to  lean  to  the  side  of  Austria,  and 
even  George,  Duke  of  Lunenburg,  declared  against  them. 
Ehrenbreitstein  was  starved  into  a  surrender  by  the  Ba- 
varian general,  De  Werth,  and  the  Austrians  possessed 
themselves  of  all  the  works  which  had  been  thrown  up 
on  the  Rhine.  France  had  been  the  sufferer  in  the 
contest  with  Spain  ;  and  the  event  had  by  no  means  jus- 
tified the  pompous  expectations  which  had  accompanied 
the  opening  of  the  campaign.  Every  place  which  the 
Swedes  had  held  in  the  interior  of  Germany  was  lost; 
and  only  the  principal  towns  in  Pomerania  still  remained 
in  their  hands.  But  a  single  cnmpaign  raised  them  from 
this  state  of  humiliation  ;  and  the  vigorous  diversion, 
wrhich  the  victorious  Bernard  had  effected  upon  the 
Rhine,  gave  quite  a  new  turn  to  affairs. 

The  misunderstandings  between  France  and  Sweden 
were  now  at  last  adjusted,  and  the  old  treaty  between 
these  powers  confirmed  at  Hamburg,  with  fresh  advan- 
tages for  Sweden.  In  Hesse  the  politic  Landgravine 
Amelia  had,  with  the  approbation  of  the  states,  assumed 
the  government  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  and 
resolutely  maintained  her  rights  against  the  emperor  and 
the  House  of  Darmstadt.  Meantime,  the  Swedish-Prot- 
estant party,  zealously  attached  to  their  religion,  only 
awaited  a  favorable  opportunity  openly  to  declare  them- 
selves. By  artful  delays,  and  by  prolonging  the  nego- 
tiations with  the  emperor,  they  had  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing him  inactive  till  they  had  concluded  a  secret  compact 
with  France,  and  the  victories  of  Duke  Bernard  had 
given  a  favorable  turn  to  the  affairs  of  the  Protestants. 
They  now  at  once  threw  off"  the  mask,  and  renewed 
their  former  alliance  with  the  Swedish  crown.  The 
Electoral  Prince  of  the  Palatinate  was  also  stimulated  by 
the  success  of  Bernard,  to  try  his  fortune  against  the 
common  enemy.  Raising  troops  in  Holland  with  Eng- 
lish money,  he  formed  a  magazine  at  Meppen,  and 
joined  the  Swedes  in  Westphalia.  His  magazine  was, 
however,  quickly  lost :  his  army  defeated  near  Flotha, 
by  Count  Hatzfeld ;  but  his  attempt  served  to  occupy 
for  some  time  the  attention  of  the  enemy,  and  thereby 
facilitated  the  operations  of  the  Swedes  in  other  quarters. 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  343 


Otber  friends  began  to  appear,  as  fortune  declared  in 
their  favor ;  and  the  circumstance,  that  the  states  of 
Lower  Saxony  embraced  a  neutrality,  was  of  itself  no 
inconsiderable  advantage. 

Under  these  advantages,  and  reinforced  by  fourteen 
thousand  fresh  troops  from  Sweden  and  Livonia,  Banner 
opened,  with  the  most  favorable  prospects,  the  campaign 
of  1638.  The  imperialists,  who  were  in  possession  of 
Upper  Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg,  either  abandoned 
their  positions,  or  deserted  in  crowds  to  the  Swedes,  to 
avoid  the  horrors  of  famine,  the  most  formidable  enemy 
in  this  exhausted  country.  The  whole  country  between 
the  Elbe  and  the  Oder  was  so  desolated  by  the  past 
marching  and  quarterings  of  the  troops,  that,  in  order  to 
support  his  army  on  its  march  into  Saxony  and  Bohemia, 
Banner  was  obliged  to  take  a  circuitous  route  from 
Lower  Pomerania  into  Lower  Saxony,  and  then  into 
the  Electorate  of  Saxony  through  the  territory  of  Hal- 
berstadt. The  impatience  of  the  Lower  Saxon  states  to 
get  rid  of  such  troublesome  guests  procured  him  so 
plentiful  a  supply  of  provisions,  that  he  was  provided  with 
bread  in  Magdeburg  itself,  where  famine  had  even  over- 
come the  natural  antipathy  of  men  to  human  flesh.  His 
approach  spread  consternation  among  the  Saxons ;  but 
his  views  were  directed  not  against  this  exhausted 
country,  but  against  the  hereditary  dominions  of  the 
emperor.  The  victories  of  Bernard  encouraged  him, 
while  the  prosperity  of  the  Austrian  provinces  excited 
his  hopes  of  booty.  After  defeating  the  imperial  gen- 
eral, Salis,  at  Elsterberg,  totally  routing  the  Saxon  army 
at  Chemnitz,  and  taking  Pirna,  he  penetrated  with  irre- 
sistible impetuosity  into  Bohemia,  crossed  the  Elbe, 
threatened  Prague,  took  Brandeis  and  Leutmeritz,  de- 
feated General  Hofkirchen  with  ten  regiments,  and 
spread  terror  and  devastation  through  that  defenseless 
kingdom.  Booty  was  his  sole  object,  and  whatever  he 
could  not  carry  off  he  destroyed.  In  order  to  remove 
more  of  the  corn,  the  ears  were  cut  from  the  stalks,  and 
the  latter  burnt.  Above  a  thousand  castles,  hamlets,  and 
villages  were  laid  in  ashes  ;  sometimes  more  than  a  hun- 
dred were  seen  burning  in  one  night.  From  Bohemia 
he  crossed  into  Silesia,  and  it  was  his  intention  to  carry 


344      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

his  ravages  even  into  Moravia  and  Austria.  But  to  pre- 
vent this,  Count  Hartzfeld  was  summoned  from  West- 
phalia, and  Piccolomini  from  the  Netherlands,  to  hasten 
with  all  speed  to  this  quarter.  The  Archduke  Leopold, 
brother  to  the  emperor,  assumed  the  command,  in  order 
to  repair  the  errors  of  his  predecessor,  Gallas,  and  to 
raise  the  army  from  the  low  ebb  to  which  it  had  fallen. 

The  result  justified  the  change,  and  the  campaign  of 
1640  appeared  to  take  a  most  unfortunate  turn  for  the 
Swedes.  They  were  successively  driven  out  of  all  their 
posts  in  Bohemia,  and  anxious  only  to  secure  their  plun- 
der, they  precipitately  crossed  the  heights  of  Meissen. 
But  being  followed  into  Saxony  by  the  pursuing  enemy, 
and  defeated  at  Plauen,  they  were  obliged  to  take  refuge 
in  Thuringia.  Made  masters  of  the  field  in  a  single 
summer,  they  were  as  rapidly  dispossessed  ;  but  only  to 
acquire  it  a  secoud  time,  and  to  hurry  from  one  extreme 
to  another.  The  army  of  Banner,  weakened  and  on  the 
brink  of  destruction  in  its  camp  at  Erfurt,  suddenly  re- 
covered itself.  The  Duke  of  Lunenburg  abandoned  the 
treaty  of  Prague,  and  joined  Banner  with  the  very  troops 
which,  the  year  before,  had  fought  against  him.  Hesse 
Cassel  sent  reinforcements,  and  the  Duke  of  Longueville 
came  to  his  support  with  the  army  of  the  late  Duke 
Bernard.  Once  more  numerically  superior  to  the  impe- 
rialists, Banner  offered  them  battle  near  Saalfeld  ;  but 
their  leader,  Piccolomini,  prudently  declined  an  engage- 
ment, and  had  chosen  too  strong  a  position  to  be  forced. 
When  the  Bavarians,  at  length,  separated  from  the  impe- 
rialists, and  marched  toward  Franconia,  Banner  attempt- 
ed an  attack  upon  this  divided  corps,  but  the  attempt 
was  frustrated  by  the  skill  of  the  Bavarian  general,  Von 
Mercy,  and  the  near  approach  of  the  main  body  of  the 
imperialists.  Both  armies  now  moved  into  the  exhaust- 
ed territory  of  Hesse,  where  they  formed  intrenched 
camps  near  each  other,  till,  at  last,  famine,  and  the  se- 
verity of  the  winter,  compelled  them  both  to  retire. 
Piccolomini  chose  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Weser  for  his 
winter-quarters ;  but  being  outflanked  by  Banner,  he 
wras  obliged  to  give  way  to  the  Swedes,  and  to  impose 
on  the  Franconian  sees  the  burden  of  maintaining  his 
army. 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  345 


At  this  period  a  diet  was  held  in  Ratisbon,  where  the 
complaints  of  the  states  were  to  be  heard,  measures 
taken  for  securing  the  repose  of  the  empire,  and  the 
question  of  peace  or  war  finally  settled.  The  presence 
of  the  emperor,  the  majority  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
voices  in  the  electoral  college,  the  great  number  of 
bishops,  and  the  withdrawal  of  several  of  the  Protestant 
votes,  gave  the  emperor  a  complete  command  of  the 
deliberations  of  the  assembly,  and  rendered  this  Diet  any 
thing  but  a  fair  representative  of  the  opinions  of  the  Ger- 
man empire.  The  Protestants,  with  reason,  considered 
it  as  a  mere  combination  of  Austria  and  its  creature, 
against  their  party  ;  and  it  seemed  to  them  a  laudable 
effort  to  interrupt  its  deliberations,  and  to  dissolve  the 
Diet  itself. 

Banner  undertook  this  bold  enterprise.  His  military 
reputation  had  suffered  by  his  last  retreat  from  Bohe- 
mia, and  it  stood  in  need  of  some  great  exploit  to  restore 
its  former  luster.  "Without  communicating  his  designs 
to  any  one,  in  the  depth  of  the  winter  of  1641,  as  soon 
as  the  roads  and  rivers  were  frozen,  he  broke  up  from 
his  quarters  in  Lunenburg.  Accompanied  by  Marshal 
Guebriant,  who  commanded  the  armies  of  France  and 
Weimar,  he  took  the  route  toward  the  Danube,  through 
Thuringia  and  Vogtland,  and  appeared  before  Ratisbon, 
ere  the  Diet  could  be  apprised  of  his  approach.  The 
consternation  of  the  assembly  was  indescribable ; .  *d,  in 
the  first  alarm,  the  deputies  prepared  for  flight.  The 
emperor  alone  declared  that  he  would  not  leave  ^he 
town,  and  encouraged  the  rest  by  his  example.  Unl  r- 
tunately  for  the  Swedes,  a  thaw  came  on,  which  brok  i 
up  the  ice  upon  the  Danube,  so  that  it  was  no  longei 
passable  on  foot,  while  no  boats  could  cross  it,  on  account 
of  the  quantities  of  ice  which  were  swept  down  by  the 
current.  In  order  to  perform  something,  and  to  humble 
the  pride  of  the  emperor,  Banner  discourteously  fired 
five  hundred  cannon  shots  into  the  town,  which,  how- 
ever, did  little  mischief.  Baffled  in  his  designs,  he  re- 
solved to  penetrate  farther  into  Bohemia  and  the  de- 
fenseless province  of  Moravia,  where  a  rich  booty  and 
comfortable  quarters  awaited  his  troops.  Guebriant, 
however,  began  to  fear  that  the  purpose  of  the  Swedes 


346       schtller's  thirty  years'  war. 


was  to  draw  the  army  of  Bernard  away  from  the  Rhine, 
and  to  cut  off  its  communication  with  France,  till  it 
should  be  either  entirely  won  over,  or  incapacitated 
from  acting  independently.  He  therefore  separated 
from  Banner  to  return  to  the  Maine :  and  the  latter 
was  exposed  to  the  whole  force  of  the  imperialists, 
which  had  been  secretly  drawn  together  between  Ratis- 
bon  and  Ingolstadt,  and  was  on  its  march  against  him. 
It  was  now  time  to  think  of  a  rapid  retreat,  which,  hav- 
ing to  be  effected  in  the  face  of  an  army  superior  in 
cavalry,  and  betwixt  woods  and  rivers,  through  a  country 
entirely  hostile,  appeared  almost  impracticable.  He 
hastily  retired  toward  the  Forest,  intending  to  penetrate 
through  Bohemia  into  Saxony ;  but  he  was  obliged  to 
sacrifice  three  regiments  at  Neuburg.  These,  with  a 
truly  Spartan  courage,  defended  themselves  for  four 
days  behind  an  old  wall,  and  gained  time  for  Banner  to 
escape.  He  retreated  by  Egra  to  Annaberg;  Piccolo- 
mini  took  a  shorter  route  in  pursuit,  by  Schlakenwald  ; 
and  Banner  succeeded,  only  by  a  single  half-hour,  in 
clearing  the  pass  of  Prisnitz,  and  saving  his  whole  army 
from  the  imperialists.  At  Zwickau  he  was  again  joined 
by  Guebriant ;  and  both  generals  directed  their  march 
toward  Halberstadt,  after  in  vain  attempting  to  defend 
the  Saal,  and  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  imperialists. 

Banner,  at  length,  terminated  his  career  at  Halber- 
stadt, in  May,  1641,  a  victim  to  vexation  and  disappoint- 
ment. He  sustained  with  great  renown,  though  with 
varying  success,  the  reputation  of  the  Swedish  arms  in 
Germany,  and,  by  a  train  of  victories,  showed  himself 
worthy  of  his  great  master  in  the  art  of  war.  He  was 
fertile  in  expedients,  which  he  planned  with  secrecy, 
and  executed  with  boldness;  cautious  in  the  midst  of 
dangers,  greater  in  adversity  than  in  prosperity,  and 
never  more  formidable  than  when  upon  the  brink  of 
destruction.  But  the  virtues  of  the  hero  were  united 
with  all  the  failings  and  vices  which  a  military  life 
creates,  or  at  least  fosters.  As  imperious  in  private  life 
as  he  was  at  the  head  of  his  army,  rude  as  his  profes- 
sion, and  proud  as  a  conqueror,  he  oppressed  the  Ger- 
man princes  no  less  by  his  haughtiness,  than  their  coun- 
try by  his  contributions.     He  consoled  himself  for  the 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  347 


toils  of  war  in  voluptuousness  and  the  pleasures  of  the 
table,  in  which  he  indulged  to  excess,  and  was  thus 
brought  to  an  early  grave.  But  though  as  much  addicted 
to  pleasure  as  Alexander  or  Mohammed  II.,  he  hurried 
from  the  arms  of  luxury  into  the  hardest  fatigues, 
and  placed  himself  in  all  his  vigor  at  the  head  of  his 
army,  at  the  very  moment  his  soldiers  were  murmuring 
at  his  luxurious  excesses.  Nearly  eighty  thousand  men 
fell  in  the  numerous  battles  which  he  fought,  and  about 
six  hundred  hostile  standards  and  colors,  which  he  sent 
to  Stockholm,  were  the  trophies  of  his  victories.  The 
want  of  this  great  general  was  soon  severely  felt  by  the 
Swedes,  who  feared,  with  justice,  that  the  loss  would 
not  readily  be  replaced.  The  spirit  of  rebellion  and  in- 
subordination, which  had  been  overawed  by  the  im- 
perious demeanor  of  this  dreaded  commander,  awoke 
upon  his  death.  The  officers,  with  an  alarming  una- 
nimity, demanded  payment  of  their  arrears  ;  and  none  of 
the  four  generals  who  shared  the  command  possessed 
influence  enough  to  satisfy  these  demands,  or  to  silence 
the  malcontents.  All  discipline  was  at  an  end,  increas- 
ing want  and  the  imperial  citations  were  daily  diminish- 
ing the  number  of  the  army  ;  the  troops  of  France  and 
Weimar  showed  little  zeal;  those  of  Lunenburg  forsook 
the  Swedish  colors,  as  the  princes  of  the  House  of 
Brunswick,  after  the  death  of  Duke  George,  had  formed 
a  separate  treaty  with  the  emperor ;  and  at  last  even 
those  of  Hesse  quitted  them,  to  seek  better  quarters  in 
Westphalia.  The  enemy  profited  by  these  calamitous 
divisions;  and  although  defeated  with  loss  in  two  pitched 
battles,  succeeded  in  making  considerable  progress  in 
Lower  Saxony. 

At  length  appeared  the  new  Swedish  generalissimo, 
with  fresh  troops  and  money.  This  was  Bernard  Tor- 
stensohn, a  pupil  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  his  most 
successful  imitator,  who  had  been  his  page  during  the 
Polish  war.  Though  a  martyr  to  the  gout,  and  confined 
to  a  litter,  he  surpassed  all  his  opponents  in  activity ; 
and  his  enterprises  had  wings,  while  his  body  was  held 
by  the  most  frightful  of  fetters.  Under  him,  the  scene 
of  war  was  changed,  and  new  maxims  adopted,  which 
necessity  dictated,  and  the  issue  justified.     All  the 


348       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


countries  in  which  the  contest  had  hitherto  raged  were 
exhausted  ;  while  the  House  of  Austria,  safe  in  its  more 
distant  territories,  felt  not  the  miseries  of  the  war  under 
which  the  rest  of  Germany  groaned.  Torstensohn  first 
furnished  them  with  this  bitter  experience,  glutted  his 
Swedes  on  the  fertile  produce  of  Austria,  and  carried 
the  torch  of  war  to  the  very  footsteps  of  the  imperial 
throne. 

In  Silesia,  the  enemy  had  gained  considerable  advan- 
tages over  the  Swedish  general,  Stahlhantsch,  and  driven 
him  as  far  as  Neumark.  Torstensohn,  who  had  joinde 
the  main  body  of  the  Swedes  in  Lunenburg,  summoned 
him  to  unite  with  his  force,  and  in  the  year  1642  hastily 
marched  into  Silesia  through  Brandenburg,  which,  under 
its  great  elector,  had  begun  to  maintain  an  armed  neu- 
trality. Glogau  was  carried,  sword  in  hand,  without  a 
breach,  or  formal  approaches  ;  the  Duke  Francis  Albert 
of  Lunenburg  defeated  and  killed  at  Schweidnitz ;  and 
Schweidnitz  itself,  with  almost  all  the  towns  on  that  side 
of  the  Oder,  taken.  He  now  penetrated  with  irresistible 
violence  into  the  interior  of  Moravia,  where  no  enemy 
of  Austria  had  hitherto  appeared  ;  took  Olmutz,  and 
threw  Vienna  itself  into  consternation. 

But,  in  the  mean  time,  Piccolomini  and  the  Archduke 
Leopold  had  collected  a  superior  force,  which  speedily 
drove  the  Swedish  conquerors  from  Moravia,  and  after 
a  fruitless  attempt  upon  Brieg,  from  Silesia.  Rein- 
forced by  Wrangel,  the  Swedes  again  attempted  to  make 
head  against  the  enemy,  and  relieved  Grossglogau ;  but 
could  neither  bring  the  imperialists  to  an  engagement, 
nor  carry  into  effect  their  own  views  upon  Bohemia. 
Overrunning  Lusatia,  they  took  Zittau,  in  presence  of 
the  enemy,  and,  after  a  short  stay  in  that  country, 
directed  their  march  toward  the  Elbe,  which  they  passed 
at  Torgau.  Torstensohn  now  threatened  Leipzig  with 
a  siege,  and  hoped  to  raise  a  large  supply  of  provisions 
and  contributions  from  that  prosperous  town,  which  for 
ten  years  had  been  unvisited  with  the  scourge  of  war. 

The  imperialists,  under  Leopold  and  Piccolomini,  im- 
mediately hastened  by  Dresden  to  its  relief,  and  Tors- 
tensohn, to  avoid  being  inclosed  between  this  army  and 
the  town,  boldly  advanced  to  meet  them  in  order  of  bat- 


sciiiller's  thirty  years'  war.  319 


tit.  By  a  strange  coincidence,  the  two  armies  met  i.pon 
the  very  spotwhich,  eleven  years  before,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  had  rendered  remarkable  by  a  decisive  victory ; 
and  the  heroism  of  their  predecessors  now  kindled  in 
the  Swedes  a  noble  emulation  on  this  consecrated  ground. 
The  Swedish  generals,  Stahlhantsch  and  Wellenberg, 
led  their  divisions  with  such  impetuosity  upon  the  left 
wing  of  the  imperialists,  before  it  was  completely  formed, 
that  the  whole  cavalry  that  covered  it  were  dispersed 
and  rendered  unserviceable.  But  the  left  of  the  Swedes 
was  threatened  with  a  similar  fate,  when  the  victorious 
right  advanced  to  its  assistance,  took  the  enemy  in  flank 
and  rear,  and  divided  the  Austrian  line.  The  infantry 
on  both  sides  stood  firm  as  a  wall,  and,  when  their  ammu- 
nition was  exhausted,  maintained  the  combat  with  the 
butt-ends  of  their  muskets,  till  at  last  the  imperialists, 
completely  surrounded,  after  a  contest  of  three  hours, 
were  compelled  to  abandon  the  field.  The  generals  on 
both  sides  had  more  than  once  to  rally  their  flying  troops ; 
and  the  Archduke  Leopold,  with  his  regiment,  was  the 
first  in  the  attack  and  last  in  flight.  But  this  bloody  vic- 
tory cost  the  Swedes  more  than  three  thousand  men, 
and  two  of  their  best  generals,  Schlangen  and  Lilien- 
hoeck.  More  than  five  thousand  of  the  imperialists 
were  left  upon  the  field,  and  nearly  as  many  taken  pris- 
oners. Their  whole  artillery,  consisting  of  forty-six 
field-pieces,  the  silver  plate  and  portfolio  of  the  archduke, 
with  the  whole  baggage  of  the  army,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  victors.  Torstensohn,  too  greatly  disabled  by  his 
victory  to  pursue  the  enemy,  moved  upon  Leipzig.  The 
defeated  army  retired  into  Bohemia,  where  its  shattered 
regiments  reassembled.  The  Archduke  Leopold  could 
not  recover  from  the  vexation  caused  by  this  defeat ;  and 
the  regiment  of  cavalry  which,  by  its  premature  flight, 
had  occasioned  the  disaster,  experienced  the  effects  of 
his  indignation.  At  Rakonitz  in  Bohemia,  in  presence 
of  the  whole  army,  he  publicly  declared  it  infamous,  de- 
prived it  of  its  horses,  arms,  and  ensigns,  ordered  its 
standards  to  be  torn,  condemned  to  death  several  of  the 
officers,  and  decimated  the  privates. 

The  surrender  of  Leipzig,  three  weeks  after  the  bat- 
tle, was  its  brilliant  result.    The  city  was  obliged  to 
Go 


350      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


clothe  the  Swedish  troops  anew,  and  to  purchase  an  ex 
emption  from  plunder,  by  a  contribution  of  three  nun 
dred  thousand  rix-dollars,  to  which  all  the  foreign  mer 
chants,  who  had  warehouses  in  the  city,  were  to  furnish 
their  quota.  In  the  middle  of  winter,  Torstensohn  ad- 
vanced against  Freyberg,  and  for  several  weeks  defied 
the  inclemency  of  the  season,  hoping  by  his  persever- 
ance to  weary  out  the  obstinacy  of  the  besieged.  But 
he  found  that  he  was  merely  sacrificing  the  lives  of  his 
soldiers ;  and  at  last,  the  approach  of  the  imperial  gen- 
eral, Piccolomini,  compelled  him,  with  his  weakened 
army,  to  retire.  He  considered  it,  however,  as  equiva- 
lent to  a  victory,  to  have  disturbed  the  repose  of  the 
enemy  in  their  winter-quarters,  who,  by  the  severity  of 
the  weather,  sustained  a  loss  of  three  thousand  horses. 
He  now  made  a  movement  toward  the  Oder,  as  if  with 
the  view  of  reinforcing  himself  with  the  garrisons  of 
Pomerania  and  Silesia;  but,  with  the  rapidity  of  light- 
ning, he  again  appeared  upon  the  Bohemian  frontier, 
penetrated  through  that  kingdom,  and  relieved  Ol  mutz 
in  Moravia,  which  was  hard-pressed  by  the  imperialists. 
His  camp  at  Doditschau,  two  miles  from  Olmutz,  com- 
manded the  whole  of  Moravia,  on  which  he  levied  heavy 
contributions,  and  carried  his  ravages  almost  to  the  gates 
of  Vienna.  In  vain  did  the  emperor  attempt  to  arm  the 
Hungarian  nobility  in  defense  of  this  province  ;  they 
appealed  to  their  privileges,  and  refused  to  serve  beyond 
the  limits  of  their  own  country.  Thus,  the  time  that 
should  have  been  spent  in  active  resistance  was  lost  in 
fruitless  negotiation,  and  the  entire  province  was  aban- 
doned to  the  ravages  of  the  Swedes. 

While  Torstensohn,  by  his  marches  and  his  victories, 
astonished  friend  and  foe,  the  armies  of  the  allies  had 
not  been  inactive  in  other  parts  of  the  empire.  The 
troops  of  Hesse,  under  Count  Eberstein,  and  those  of 
Weimar,  under  Mareschal  de  Guebriant,  had  fallen  into 
the  Electorate  of  Cologne,  in  order  to  take  up  their 
winter-quarters  there.  To  get  rid  of  these  trouble- 
some guests,  the  elector  called  to  his  assistance  the  im- 
perial general,  Hatzfeld,  and  assembled  his  own  troops 
under  General  Lamboy.  The  latter  was  attacked  by 
the  allies  in  January,  1642,  and  in  a  decisive  action  near 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  351 


Kempen,  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  about  two  thousand 
men  killed,  and  about  twice  as  many  prisoners.  This 
important  victory  opened  to  them  the  whole  electorate 
and  neighboring  territories,  so  that  the  allies  were  not 
only  enabled  to  maintain  their  winter-quarters  there,  but 
drew  from  the  country  large  supplies  of  men  and  horses. 

Guebriant  left  the  Hessians  to  defend  their  conquests 
on  the  lower  Rhine  against  Hatzfeld,  and  advanced 
toward  Thuringia,  as  if  to  second  the  operations  of  Tors- 
tensohn in  Saxony.  But  instead  of  joining  the  Swedes, 
he  soon  hurried  back  to  the  Rhine  and  the  Maine, 
from  which  he  seemed  to  think  he  had  removed  farther 
than  was  expedient.  But  being  anticipated  in  the  Land- 
graviate  of  Baden,  by  the  Bavarians  under  Mercy  and 
John  de  Werth,  he  was  obliged  to  wander  about  for  sev- 
eral weeks,  exposed,  without  shelter,  to  the  inclemency 
of  the  winter,  and  generally  encamping  upon  the  snow, 
till  he  found  a  miserable  refuge  in  Breisgau.  He  at 
last  took  the  field ;  and  in  the  next  summer,  by  keep- 
ing the  Bavarian  army  employed  in  Suabia,  prevented 
it  from  relieving  Thionville,  which  was  besieged  by 
Conde.  But  the  superiority  of  the  enemy  soon  drove 
him  back  to  Alsace,  where  he  awaited  a  reinforcement. 

The  death  of  Cardinal  Richelieu  took  place  in  No- 
vember,  1642,  and  the  subsequent  change  in  the  throne 
and  in  the  ministry,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Louis 
XIII.,  had  for  some  time  withdrawn  the  attention  of 
France  from  the  German  war,  and  was  the  cause  of  the 
inaction  of  its  troops  in  the  field.  But  Mazarine,  the 
inheritor,  not  only  of  Richelieu's  power,  but  also  of  his 
principles  and  his  projects,  followed  out  with  renewed 
zeal  the  plans  of  his  predecessor,  though  the  French 
subject  was  destined  to  pay  dearly  enough  for  the  po- 
litical greatness  of  his  country.  The  main  strength  of 
its  armies,  which  Richelieu  had  employed  against  the 
Spaniards,  was  by  Mazarine  directed  against  the  em- 
peror ;  and  the  anxiety  with  which  he  carried  on  the 
war  in  Germany  proved  the  sincerity  of  his  opinion, 
that  the  German  army  was  the  right  arm  of  his  king, 
and  a  wall  of  safety  around  France.  Immediately  upon 
the  surrender  of  Thionville,  he  sent  a  considerable  rein- 
forcement to  Field-Marshal  Guebriant  in  Alsace ;  and 


352      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

to  encourage  the  troops  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  the  Ger- 
man war,  the  celebrated  victor  of  Rocroi,  the  Duke  of 
Enguien,  afterward  Prince  of  Conde,  was  placed  at 
their  head.  Guebriant  now  felt  himself  strong  enough 
to  appear  again  in  Germany  with  repute.  He  hastened 
across  the  Rhine  with  the  view  of  procuring  better 
winter-quarters  in  Suabia,  and  actually  made  himself 
master  of  Roth  weil,  where  a  Bavarian  magazine  fell 
into  his  hands.  But  the  place  was  too  dearly  purchased 
for  its  worth,  and  was  again  lost,  even  more  speedily 
than  it  had  been  taken.  Guebriant  received  a  wound 
in  the  arm,  which  the  surgeon's  unskillfulness  rendered 
mortal,  and  the  extent  of  his  loss  was  felt  on  the  very 
day  of  his  death. 

The  French  army,  sensibly  weakened  by  an  expedi- 
tion undertaken  at  so  severe  a  season  of  the  year,  had, 
after  the  taking  of  Rothweil,  withdrawn  into  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Duttlingen,  where  it  lay  in  complete  secu- 
rity, without  expectation  of  a  hostile  attack.  In  the 
mean  time,  the  enemy  collected  a  considerable  force, 
with  a  view  to  prevent  the  French  from  establishing 
themselves  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  posted  it  so  near  to 
Bavaria  as  to  protect  that  quarter  from  their  ravages. 
The  imperialists,  under  Hatzfeld,  had  formed  a  junc- 
tion with  the  Bavarians  under  Mercy ;  and  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  who,  during  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  was 
generally  found  everywhere  except  in  his  own  duchy, 
joined  their  united  forces.  It  was  resolved  to  force  the 
quarters  of  the  French  in  Duttlingen  and  the  neighbor- 
ing villages,  by  surprise  ;  a  favorite  mode  of  proceeding 
in  this  war,  and  which,  being  commonly  accompanied 
by  confusion,  occasioned  more  bloodshed  than  a  regular 
battle.  On  the  present  occasion,  there  was  the  more 
to  justify  it,  as  the  French  soldiers,  unaccustomed  to 
such  enterprises,  conceived  themselves  protected  by  the 
severity  of  the  winter  against  any  surprise.  John  de 
Werth,  a  master  in  this  species  of  warfare,  which  he 
had  often  put  in  practice  against  Gustavus  Horn,  con- 
ducted the  enterprise,  and  succeeded,  contrary  to  all 
expectation. 

The  attack  was  made  on  a  side  where  it  was  least 
looked  for,  on  account  of  the  woods  and  narrow  passes, 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  353 


and  a  heavy  snow  storm,  which  fell  upon  the  same  day 
(the  24th  November,  1643),  concealed  the  approach  of 
the  vanguard  till  it  halted  before  Duttlingen.  The 
whole  of  the  aitillery  without  the  place,  as  well  as  the 
neighboring  castle  of  Homberg,  were  taken  without  re- 
sistance; Duttlingen  itself  was  gradually  surrounded  by 
the  enemy,  and  all  connection  with  the  other  quarters  in 
the  adjacent  villages  silently  and  suddenly  cut  off.  The 
French  were  vanquished  without  firing  a  cannon.  The 
cavalry  owed  their  escape  to  the  swiftness  of  their  horses, 
and  the  few  minutes  in  advance  which  they  had  gained 
upon  their  pursuers.  The  infantry  were  cut  to  pieces, 
or  voluntarily  laid  down  their  arms.  About  two  thou- 
sand men  were  killed,  and  seven  thousand,  with  twen- 
ty-five staff-officers  and  ninety  captains,  taken  prisoners. 
This  w;is,  perhaps,  the  only  brittle,  in  the  whole  course 
of  the  war,  which  produced  nearly  the  same  effect  upon 
the  party  which  gained  and  that  which  lost:  both  these 
parties  were  Germans ;  the  French  disgraced  them- 
selves. The  memory  of  this  unfortunate  day,  which 
was  renewed  one  hundred  years  after  at  Rosbach,  was 
indeed  erased  by  the  subsequent  heroism  of  a  Turenne 
and  Conde  ;  but  the  Germans  may  be  pardoned,  if  they 
indemnified  themselves  for  the  miseries  which  the  pol- 
icy of  France  had  heaped  upon  them,  by  these  severe 
reflections  upon  her  intrepidity. 

Meantime,  this  defeat  of  the  French  was  calculated 
to  prove  highly  disastrous  to  Sweden,  as  the  whole 
power  of  the  emperor  might  now  act  against  them, 
while  the  number  of  their  enemies  was  increased  by  a 
formidable  accession.  Torstensohn  had,  in  September, 
1643,  suddenly  left  Moravia,  and  moved  into  Silesia. 
The  cause  of  this  step  was  a  secret,  and  the  frequent 
changes  which  took  place  in  the  direction  of  his  march 
contributed  to  increase  this  perplexity.  From  Silesia, 
after  numberless  circuits,  he  advanced  toward  the 
Elbe,  while  the  imperialists  followed  him  into  Lusatia. 
Throwing  a  bridge  across  the  Elbe  at  Torgau,  he  gave 
out  that  he  intended  to  penetrate  through  Meissen  into 
the  Upper  Palatinate  in  Bavaria;  at  Bar  by  he  also  made 
a  movement,  as  if  to  pass  that  river,  but  continued  to 
move  down  the  Elbe  as  far  as  Havelburg,  where  he  as- 
23  g  g  2 


354      Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


tonished  his  troops  by  informing  them  that  he  was  lead- 
ing them  against  the  Danes  in  Holstein. 

The  partiality  which  Christian  IV.  had  displayed 
against  the  Swedes  in  his  office  of  mediator,  the  jealousy 
which  led  him  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  hinder  the  prog- 
ress of  their  arms,  the  restraints  which  he  laid  upon 
their  navigation  of  the  Sound,  and  the  burdens  which  he 
imposed  upon  their  commerce,  had  long  roused  the 
indignation  of  Sweden  :  and,  at  last,  when  these  griev- 
ances increased  daily,  had  determined  the  regency  to 
measures  of  retaliation.  Dangerous  as  it  seemed  to 
involve  the  nation  in  a  new  war,  when,  even  amid  its 
conquests,  it  was  almost  exhausted  by  the  old,  the  desire 
of  revenge,  and  the  deep-rooted  hatred  which  subsisted 
between  Danes  and  Swedes,  prevailed  over  all  other 
considerations  ;  and  even  the  embarrassment  in  which 
hostilities  with  Germany  had  plunged  it,  only  served  as 
an  additional  motive  to  try  its  fortune  against  Denmark. 

Matters  were,  in  fact,  arrived  at  last  to  that  extremity, 
that  the  war  was  prosecuted  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  food  and  employment  to  the  troops  ;  that  good 
winter-quarters  formed  the  chief  subject  of  contention  ; 
and  that  success,  in  this  point,  was  more  valued  than  a 
decisive  victory.  But  now  the  provinces  of  Germany 
were  almost  all  exhausted  and  laid  waste.  They  were 
wholly  destitute  of  provisions,  horses,  and  men,  which 
in  Holstein  were  to  be  found  in  profusion.  If,  by  this 
movement,  Torstensohn  should  succeed  merely  in  re- 
cruiting his  army,  providing  subsistence  for  his  horses 
and  soldiers,  and  remounting  his  cavalry,  all  the  danger 
and  difficulty  would  be  well  repaid.  Beside,  it  was 
highly  important,  on  the  eve  of  negotiations  for  peace, 
to  diminish  the  injurious  influences  which  Denmark 
might  exercise  upon  these  deliberations,  to  delay  the 
treaty  itself,  which  threatened  to  be  prejudicial  to  the 
Swedish  interests,  by  sowing  confusion  among  the  par- 
ties interested,  and  with  a  view  to  the  amount  of  indem- 
nification, to  increase  the  number  of  her  conquests,  in 
order  to  be  the  more  sure  of  securing  those  which  alone 
she  was  anxious  to  retain.  Moreover,  the  present  state 
of  Denmark  justified  even  greater  hopes,  if  only  the 
attempt  were  executed  with  rapidity  and  silence.  The 


sohiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


355 


secret  was,  in  fact,  so  well  kept  in  Stockholm,  that  the 
Danish  minister  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of  it ; 
and  neither  France  nor  Holland  were  let  into  the 
scheme.  Actual  hostilities  commenced  with  the  declar- 
ation of  war ;  and  Torstensohn  was  in  Holstein  before 
even  an  attack  was  expected.  The  Swedish  troops, 
meeting  with  no  resistance,  quickly  overran  this  duchy, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  all  its  strong  places, 
except  Rensburg  and  Gluckstadt.  Another  army  pen- 
etrated into  Schonen,  which  made  as  little  opposition ; 
and  nothing  but  the  severity  of  the  season  prevented 
the  enemy  from  passing  the  Lesser  Baltic,  and  carrying 
the  war  into  Funen  and  Zealand.  The  Danish  fleet 
was  unsuccessful  at  Fernem  ;  and  Christian  himself, 
who  was  on  board,  lost  his  right  eye  by  a  splinter.  Cut 
off  from  all  communication  with  the  distant  force  of  the 
emperor,  his  ally,  this  king  was  on  the  point  of  seeing 
his  whole  kingdom  overrun  by  the  Swedes ;  and  all 
things  threatened  the  speedy  fulfillment  of  the  old  proph- 
ecy of  the  famous  Tycho  Brahe,  that  in  the  year  1644, 
Christian  IV.  should  wander  in  the  greatest  misery 
from  his  dominions. 

But  the  emperor  could  not  look  on  with  indifference, 
while  Denmark  was  sacrificed  to  Sweden,  and  the  latter 
strengthened  by  so  great  an  acquisition.  Notwithstand- 
ing great  difficulties  lay  in  the  way  of  so  long  a  march 
through  desolated  provinces,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  dis- 
patch an  army  into  Holstein  under  Count  Gallas,  who, 
after  Piccolomini's  retirement,  had  resumed  the  su- 
preme command  of  the  troops.  Gallas  accordingly  ap- 
peared in  the  duchy,  took  Keil,  and  hoped,  by  forming 
a  junction  with  the  Danes,  to  be  able  to  shut  up  the 
Swedish  army  in  Jutland.  Meantime,  the  Hessians, 
and  the  Swedish  general,  Koenigsmark,  were  kept  in 
check  by  Hatzfeld  and  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  the 
son  of  Christian  IV. ;  and  afterward  the  Swedes  drawn 
into  Saxony  by  an  attack  upon  Meissen.  But  Torsten- 
sohn, with  his  augmented  army,  penetrated  through 
the  unoccupied  pass  betwixt  Schleswig  and  Stapelholm, 
met  Gallas,  and  drove  him  along  the  whole  course  of  the 
Elbe,  as  far  as  Bernburg,  where  the  imperialists  took 
up  an  intrenched  position.     Torstensohn  passed  the 


356 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Saal,  and  by  posting  himself  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy, 
cut  off  their  communication  with  Saxony  and  Bohemia. 
Scarcity  and  famine  began  now  to  destroy  them  in  great 
numbers,  and  forced  them  to  retreat  to  Magdeburg, 
where,  however,  they  were  not  much  better  off.  The 
cavalry,  which  endeavored  to  escape  into  Silesia,  was 
overtaken  and  routed  by  Torstensohn,  near  Juterbock ; 
the  rest  of  the  army,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  fight  its 
way  through  the  Swedish  line,  was  almost  wholly  de- 
stroyed near  Magdeburg.  From  this  expedition,  Gallas 
brought  back  only  a  few  thousand  men  of  all  his  formi- 
dable force,  and  the  reputation  of  being  a  consummate 
master  in  the  art  of  ruining  an  army.  The  King  of 
Denmark,  after  this  unsuccessful  effort  to  relieve  him, 
sued  for  peace,  which  he  obtained  at  Bremsebor  in  the 
year  1645,  under  very  unfavorable  conditions. 

Torstensohn  rapidly  followed  up  his  victory  ;  and 
while  Axel  Lilienstern,  one  of  the  generals  who  com- 
manded under  him,  overawed  Saxony  and  Koenigs- 
mark,  subdued  the  whole  of  Bremen,  he  himself  pene- 
trated into  Bohemia  with  sixteen  thousand  men  and 
eighty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  endeavored  a  second  time 
to  remove  the  seat  of  war  into  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  Austria.  Ferdinand,  upon  this  intelligence,  hastened 
in  person  to  Prague,  in  order  to  animate  the  courage  of 
the  people  by  his  presence  ;  and  as  a  skillful  general  was 
much  required,  and  so  little  unanimity  prevailed  among 
the  numerous  leaders,  he  hoped  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  war  to  be  able  to  give  more  energy  and 
activity.  In  obedience  to  his  orders,  Hatzfeld  assem- 
bled the  whole  Austrian  and  Bavarian  force,  and,  con- 
trary to  his  own  inclination  and  advice,  formed  the  em- 
peror's last  army,  and  the  last  bulwark  of  his  states,  in 
order  of  battle,  to  meet  the  enemy,  who  were  approach- 
ing, at  Jankowitz,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1645.  Fer- 
dinand depended  upon  his  cavalry,  which  outnumbered 
that  of  the  enemy  by  three  thousand,  and  upon  the 
promise  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  had  appeared  to  him 
in  a  dream,  and  given  him  the  strongest  assurances  of  a 
complete  victory. 

The  superiority  of  the  imperialists  did  not  intimidate 
Torstensohn,  who  was  not  accustomed  to  number  his 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  357 


antagonists.  On  the  very  first  onset,  the  left  wing, 
which  Goetz,  the  general  of  the  League,  had  entangled 
in  a  disadvantageous  position  among  marshes  and  thick- 
ets, was  totally  routed ;  the  general,  with  the  greater 
part  of  his  men,  killed,  and  almost  the  whole  ammuni- 
tion of  the  army  taken.  This  unfortunate  commence- 
ment decided  the  fate  of  the  day.  The  Swedes,  con- 
stantly advancing,  successively  carried  all  the  most  com- 
manding heights.  After  a  bloody  engagement  of  eight 
hours,  a  desperate  attack  on  the  part  of  the  imperial 
cavalry,  and  a  vigorous  resistance  by  the  infantry,  the 
latter  remained  in  possession  of  the  field.  Two  thou- 
sand Austrians  were  killed  upon  the  spot,  and  Hatzfeld 
himself,  with  three  thousand  men,  taken  prisoners. 
Thus,  on  the  same  day,  did  the  emperor  lose  his  best 
general  and  his  last  army. 

This  decisive  victory  at  Jankowitz,  at  once  exposed  all 
the  Austrian  territory  to  the  enemy.  Ferdinand  hastily 
fled  to  Vienna,  to  provide  for  its  defense,  and  to  save  his 
family  and  his  treasures.  In  a  veiy  short  time,  the  vic- 
torious Swedes  poured,  like  an  inundation,  upon  Moravia 
and  Austria.  After  they  had  subdued  nearly  the  whole  ot 
Moravia,  invested  Brunn,  and  taken  almost  all  the  strong- 
holds upon  the  Danube,  and  carried  the  intrenchments  at 
the  Wolf's  Bridge,  near  Vienna,  they  at  last  appeared 
in  sight  of  that  capital,  while  the  care  which  they  had 
taken  to  fortify  their  conquests  showed  that  their  visit 
was  not  likely  to  be  a  short  one.  After  a  long  and  de- 
structive circuit  through  every  province  of  Germany,  the 
stream  of  war  had  at  last  rolled  backward  to  its  source, 
and  the  roar  of  the  Swedish  artillery  now  reminded  the 
terrified  inhabitants  of  those  balls  which,  twenty-seven 
years  before,  the  Bohemian  rebels  had  fired  into  Vienna. 
The  same  theater  of  war  brought  again  similar  actors  on 
the  scene.  Torstensohn  invited  Ragotsky,  the  succes- 
sor of  Bethlem  Gabor,  to  his  assistance,  as  the  Bohe- 
mian rebels  had  solicited  that  of  his  predecessor  ;  Upper 
Hungary  was  already  inundated  by  his  troops,  and  his 
union  with  the  Swedes  was  daily  apprehended.  The 
Elector  of  Saxony,  driven  to  despair  by  the  Swedes 
taking  up  their  quarters  within  his  territories,  and 
abandoned  by  the  emperor,  who,  after  the  defeat  at 


358 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Jankowitz,  was  unable  to  defend  himself,  at  length 
adopted  the  last  and  only  expedient  which  remained, 
and  concluded  a  truce  with  Sweden,  which  was  to  be 
renewed  from  year  to  year,  till  a  general  peace.  The 
emperor  thus  lost  a  friend,  while  a  new  enemy  was 
appearing  at  his  very  gates,  his  armies  dispersed,  and 
his  allies  in  other  quarters  of  Germany  defeated.  The 
French  army  had  effaced  the  disgrace  of  their  defeat  at 
Duttlingen  by  a  brilliant  campaign,  and  had  kept  the 
whole  force  of  Bavaria  employed  upon  the  Rhine  and  in 
Suabia.  Reinforced  with  fresh  troops  from  France, 
which  the  great  Turenne,  already  distinguished  by  his 
victories  in  Italy,  brought  to  the  assistance  of  the  Duke 
of  Enguien,  they  appeared  on  the  4th  of  August,  1644, 
before  Friburg,  which  Mercy  had  lately  taken,  and  now 
covered  with  his  whole  army,  strongly  intrenched.  But 
against  the  steady  firmness  of  the  Bavarians,  all  the  im- 
petuous valor  of  the  French  was  exerted  in  vain,  and 
after  a  fruitless  sacrifice  of  six  thousand  men,  the  Duke 
of  Enguien  was  compelled  to  retreat.  Mazarine  shed 
tears  over  this  great  loss,  which  Conde,  who  had  no 
feeling  for  any  thing  but  glory,  disregarded.  "A  single 
night  in  Paris,"  said  he,  "  gives  birth  to  more  men  than 
this  action  has  destroyed."  The  Bavarians,  however, 
were  so  disabled  by  this  murderous  battle,  that,  far  from 
being  in  a  condition  to  relieve  Austria  from  the  menaced 
dangers,  they  were  too  weak  even  to  defend  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine.  Spires,  Worms,  and  Manheim  capitulat- 
ed ;  the  strong  fortress  of  Philipsburg  was  forced  to  sur- 
render by  famine;  and,  by  a  timely  submission,  Mentz 
hastened  to  disarm  the  conquerors. 

Austria  and  Moravia,  however,  were  now  freed  from 
Torstensohn,  by  a  similar  means  of  deliverance  as  in 
the  beginning  of  the  war  had  saved  them  from  the 
Bohemians.  Ragotzky,  at  the  head  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men,  had  advanced  into  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Swedish  quarters  upon  the  Danube.  But  these  wild, 
undisciplined  hordes,  instead  of  seconding  the  operations 
of  Torstensohn  by  any  vigorous  enterprise,  ouly  ravaged 
the  country,  and  increased  the  distress  which,  even  be- 
fore their  arrival,  had  begun  to  be  felt  in  the  Swedish 
camp.  To  extort  tribute  from  the  emperor,  and  monev 


schillek's  thirty  years'  war. 


359 


and  plunder  from  his  subjects,  was  the  sole  object  that 
had  allured  Ragotzky,  or  his  predecessor,  Bethlem  Ga- 
bor, into  the  field  ;  and  both  departed  as  soon  as  they 
had  gained  their  end.  To  get  rid  of  him,  Ferdinand 
granted  the  barbarian  whatever  he  asked,  and,  by  a 
small  sacrifice,  freed  his  states  of  this  formidable  enemy. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  main  body  of  the  Swedes  had 
been  greatly  weakened  by  a  tedious  encampment  before 
Brunn.  Torstensohn,  who  commanded  in  person,  for 
four  entire  months  employed  in  vain  all  his  knowledge 
of  military  tactics ;  the  obstinacy  of  the  resistance  was 
equal  to  that  of  the  assault  ;  while  despair  roused  the 
courage  of  Souches,  the  commandant,  a  Swedish  de- 
serter, who  had  no  hope  of  pardon.  The  ravages 
caused  by  pestilence,  arising  from  famine,  want  of 
cleanliness,  and  the  use  of  unripe  fruit,  during  their 
tedious  and  unhealthy  encampment,  with  the  sudden 
retreat  of  the  Prince  of  Transylvania,  at  last  compelled 
the  Swedish  leader  to  raise  the  siege.  As  all  the  passes 
upon  the  Danube  were  occupied,  and  his  army  greatly 
weakened  by  famine  and  sickness,  he  at  last  relinquished 
his  intended  plan  of  operations  against  Austria  and  Mo- 
ravia, and  contented  himself  with  securing  a  key  to 
these  provinces,  by  leaving  behind  him  Swedish  garri- 
sons in  the  conquered  fortresses.  He  then  directed  his 
inarch  into  Bohemia,  whither  he  was  followed  by  the 
imperialists,  under  the  Archduke  Leopold.  Such  of 
the  lost  places  as  had  not  been  taken  by  the  latter  were 
recovered,  after  his  departure,  by  the  Austrian  general, 
ßucheün  ;  so  that,  in  the  course  of  the  following  year, 
the  Austrian  frontier  was  again  cleared  of  the  enemy, 
and  Vienna  escaped  with  mere  alarm.  In  Bohemia  and 
Silesia,  too,  the  Swedes  maintained  themselves  only 
with  a  very  variable  fortune;  they  traversed  both  coun- 
tries, without  being  able  to  hold  their  ground  in  either. 
But  if  the  designs  of  Torstensohn  were  not  crowned 
with  all  the  success  which  they  were  promised  at  the 
commencement,  they  were,  nevertheless,  productive  of 
the  most  important  consequences  to  the  Swedish  party. 
Denmark  had  been  compelled  to  a  peace,  Saxony  to  a 
truce.  The  emperor,  in  the  deliberations  for  a  peace 
crYsrsd  srsstsr  concession-  :  f  runes  became  mere  mni". 


360       schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


ageable ;  and  Sweden  itself  bolder  and  more  confident 
in  its  bearing  toward  these  two  crowns.  Having  thus 
nobly  performed  his  duty,  the  author  of  these  advantages 
retired,  adorned  with  laurels,  into  the  tranquillity  of  pri- 
vate life,  and  endeavored  to  restore  his  scattered  health. 

By  the  retreat  of  Torstensohn  the  emperor  was  re- 
lieved from  all  fears  of  an  irruption  on  the  side  of  Bohe- 
mia. But  a  new  danger  soon  threatened  the  Austrian 
frontier  from  Suabia  and  Bavaria.  Turenne,  who  had 
separated  from  Conde,  and  taken  the  direction  of  Sua- 
bia, had,  in  the  year  1645,  been  totally  defeated  by 
Mercy,  near  Mergentheim  ;  and  the  victorious  Bava- 
rians, under  their  brave  leader,  poured  into  Hesse.  But 
the  Duke  of  Enguien  hastened  with  considerable  suc- 
cors from  Alsace,  Koeningsmark  from  Moravia,  and 
the  Hessians  from  the  Rhine,  to  recruit  the  defeated 
army,  and  the  Bavarians  were  in  turn  compelled  to  retire 
to  the  extreme  limits  of  Suabia.  Here  they  posted 
themselves  at  the  village  of  Allersheim  near  Nordlingen, 
in  order  to  cover  the  Bavarian  frontier.  But  no  obstacle 
could  check  the  impetuosity  of  the  Duke  of  Enguien. 
In  person,  he  led  on  his  troops  against  the  enemy's  in- 
trenchments,  and  a  battle  took  place,  which  the  heroic 
resistance  of  the  Bavarians  rendered  most  obstinate  and 
bloody  ;  till  at  last  the  death  of  the  great  Mercy,  the 
skill  of  Turenne,  and  the  iron  firmness  of  the  Hessians, 
decided  the  day  in  favor  of  the  allies.  But  even  this 
second  barbarous  sacrifice  of  life  had  little  effect  either 
on  the  course  of  the  war,  or  on  the  negotiations  for 
peace.  The  French  army,  exhausted  by  this  bloody 
engagement,  was  still  farther  weakened  by  the  depart- 
ure of  the  Hessians,  and  the  Bavarians  being  reinforced 
by  the  Archduke  Leopold,  Turenne  was  again  obliged 
hastily  to  recross  the  Rhine. 

The  retreat  of  the  French  enabled  the  enemy  to  turn 
his  whole  force  upon  the  Swedes  in  Bohemia.  Gustavus 
Wrangel,  no  unworthy  successor  of  Banner  and  Tor- 
stensohn, had,  in  1646,  been  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Swedish  army,  which,  beside  Kpenigsmark's 
flying-corps,  and  the  numerous  garrisons  dispersed 
throughout  the  empire,  amounting  to  about  eight  thou- 
sand horse  and  fifteen  thousand  foot.    The  archduke, 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


361 


after  reinforcing  his  army,  which  already  amounted  to 
twenty-four  thousand  men,  with  twelve  Bavarian  regi- 
ments of  cavalry,  and  eighteen  regiments  of  infantry, 
moved  against  Wrangel,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
overwhelm  him  by  his  superior  force  before  Koenigsmark 
could  join  him,  or  the  French  effect  a  diversion  in  his 
favor.  Wrangel,  ho\\3ver,  did  not  await  him,  but  has- 
tened through  Upper  Saxony  to  the  Weser,  where  he 
took  Hoester  and  Paderborn.  From  thence  he  marched 
into  Hesse,  in  order  to  join  Turenne,  and  at  his  camp  at 
Weimar  was  joined  by  the  flying-corps  of  Koenigsmark. 
But  Turenne,  fettered  by  the  instructions  of  Mazarine, 
who  had  seen  with  jealousy  the  warlike  prowess  and 
increasing  power  of  the  Swedes,  excused  himself  on  the 
plea  of  a  pressing  necessity  to  defend  the  frontier  of 
France  on  the  side  of  the  Netherlands,  in  consequence 
of  the  Flemings  having  failed  to  make  the  promised 
diversion.  But  as  Wrangel  continued  to  press  his  just 
demand,  and  a  longer  opposition  might  have  excited  dis- 
trust on  the  part  of  the  Swedes,  or  induce  them  to  con- 
clude a  private  treaty  with  Austria,  Turenne  at  last  obtain- 
ed the  wished-for  permission  to  join  the  Swedish  army. 

The  junction  took  place  at  Glessen,  and  they  now  felt 
themselves  strong  enough  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  lat- 
ter had  followed  the  Swedes  into  Hesse,  in  order  to 
intercept  their  commissariat,  and  to  prevent  their  union 
with  Turenne.  In  both  designs  they  had  been  unsuc- 
cessful ;  and  the  imperialists  now  saw  themselves  cut 
off  from  the  Maine,  and  exposed  to  great  scarcity  and 
want  from  the  loss  of  their  magazines.  Wrangel  took 
advantage  of  their  weakness,  to  execute  a  plan  by  which 
he  hoped  to  give  a  new  turn  to  the  war.  He,  too,  had 
adopted  the  maxim  of  his  predecessor,  to  cany  the  war 
into  the  Austrian  states.  But,  discouraged  by  the  ill- 
success  of  Torstensohn's  enterprise,  he  hoped  to  gain 
his  end  with  more  certainty  by  another  way.  He  de- 
termined to  follow  the  course  of  the  Danube,  and  to 
break  into  the  Austrian  territories  through  the  midst  of 
Bavaria.  A  similar  design  had  been  formerly  conceived 
by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  which  he  had  been  prevented 
carrying  into  effect  by  the  approach  of  Wallenste in's 
army,  and  the  danger  of  Saxony.  Duke  Bernard,  moving 


362 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


m  his  footsteps,  and  more  fortunate  than  Gustavus,  had 
spread  his  victorious  banners  between  the  Iser  and  the 
Inn  ;  but  the  near  approach  of  the  enemy,  vastly  supe- 
rior in  force,  obliged  him  to  halt  in  his  victorious  career, 
and  lead  back  his  troops.  Wrangel  now  hoped  to  accom- 
plish the  object  in  which  his  predecessors  had  failed, 
the  more  so,  as  the  imperial  and  Bavarian  army  was  far 
in  his  rear  upon  Lahn,  and  could  only  reach  Bavaria  by 
a  long  march  through  Franconia  and  the  Upper  Palati- 
nate. He  moved  hastily  upon  the  Danube,  defeated  a 
Bavarian  corps  near  Donauwerth,  and  passed  that  river, 
as  well  as  the  Lech,  unopposed.  But  by  wasting  his 
time  in  the  unsuccessful  siege  of  Augsburg,  he  gave  op- 
portunity to  the  imperialists,  not  only  to  relieve  that  city, 
but  also  to  repulse  him  as  far  as  Lauingen.  No  sooner, 
however,  had  they  turned  toward  Suabia,  with  a  view 
to  remove  the  war  from  Bavaria,  than,  seizing  the  oppor- 
tunity, he  repassed  the  Lech,  and  guarded  the  passage 
of  it  against  the  imperialists  themselves.  Bavaria  now 
lay  open  and  defenseless  before  him ;  the  French  and 
Swedes  quickly  overran  it ;  and  the  soldiery  indemnified 
themselves  for  all  dangers  by  frightful  outrages,  rob- 
beries, and  extortions.  The  arrival  of  the  imperial  troops, 
who  at  last  succeeded  in  passing  the  Lech  at  Thier- 
haupten,  only  increased  the  misery  of  this  country,  which 
friend  and  foe  indiscriminately  plundered. 

And  now,  for  the  first  time  during  the  whole  course 
of  this  war,  the  courage  of  Maximilian,  which  for  eight- 
and-twenty  years  had  stood  unshaken  amid  fearful  dan- 
gers, began  to  waver.  Ferdinand  II.,  his  school-com- 
panion at  Ingolstadt,  and  the  friend  of  his  youth,  was 
no  more  ;  and  with  the  death  of  his  friend  and  benefac- 
tor, the  strong  tie  was  dissolved  which  had  linked  the 
elector  to  the  House  of  Austria.  To  the  father,  habit, 
inclination,  and  gratitude  had  attached  him  ;  the  son  was 
a  stranger  to  his  heart,  and  political  interests  alone  could 
preserve  his  fidelity  to  the  latter  prince. 

Accordingly,  the  motives  which  the  artifices  of  France 
now  put  in  operation,  in  order  to  detach  him  from  the 
Austrian  alliance,  and  to  induce  him  to  lay  down  his 
arms,  were  drawn  entirely  from  political  considerations. 
It  was  not  without  a  selfish  object  that  Mazarine  had  so 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  363 


far  overcome  his  jealousy  of  the  growing  power  of  the 
Swedes,  as  to  allow  the  French  to  accompany  them  into 
Bavaria.  His  intention  was  to  expose  Bavaria  to  all  the 
horrors  of  war,  in  the  hope  that  the  persevering  fortitude 
of  Maximilian  might  be  subdued  by  necessity  and  de- 
spair, and  the  emperor  deprived  of  his  first  and  last  ally. 
Brandenburg  had,  under  its  great  sovereign,  embraced 
the  neutrality  ;  Saxony  had  been  forced  to  accede  to  it; 
the  war  with  France  prevented  the  Spaniards  from 
taking  any  part  in  that  of  Germany ;  the  peace  with 
Sweden  had  removed  Denmark  from  the  theater  of  war; 
and  Poland  had  been  disarmed  by  a  long  truce.  If  they 
could  succeed  in  detaching  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  also 
from  the  Austrian  alliance, 'the  emperor  would  be  with- 
out a  friend  in  Germany,  and  left  to  the  mercy  of  the 
allied  powers. 

Ferdinaud  III.  saw  his  danger,  and  left  no  means  un- 
tried to  avert  it.  But  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  was  unfor- 
tunately led  to  believe  that  the  Spaniards  alone  were 
disinclined  to  peace,  and  that  nothing  but  Spanish  influ- 
ence had  induced  the  emperor  so  long  to  resist  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities.  Maximilian  detested  the  Spaniards, 
and  could  never  forgive  their  having  opposed  his  appli- 
cation for  the  Palatine  Electorate.  Could  it  then  be 
supposed  that,  in  order  to  gratify  this  hated  power,  he 
would  see  his  people  sacrificed,  his  country  laid  waste, 
and  himself  ruined,  when,  by  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  he 
could  at  once  emancipate  himself  from  all  these  dis- 
tresses, procure  for  his  people  the  repose  of  which  they 
stood  so  much  in  need,  and  perhaps  accelerate  the  arri- 
val of  a  general  peace  ?  All  doubts  disappeared  ;  and, 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  this  step,  he  thought  he 
should  sufficiently  discharge  his  obligations  to  the  em- 
peror, if  he  invited  him  also  to  share  in  the  benefit  of  the 
truce. 

The  deputies  of  the  three  crowns,  and  of  Bavaria,  met 
at  Ulm,  to  adjust  the  conditions.  But  it  was  soon  evi- 
dent, from  the  instructions  of  the  Austrian  ambassador, 
that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  emperor  to  second 
the  conclusion  of  a  truce,  but  if  possible  to  prevent  it. 
It  was  obviously  necessary  to  make  the  terms  acceptable 
to  the  Swedes,  who  had  the  advantage,  and  had  more  to 


364      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


hope  than  to  fear  from  the  continuance  of  the  war.  They 
were  the  conquerors  ;  and  yet  the  emperor  presumed  to 
dictate  to  them.  In  the  first  transports  of  their  indigna- 
tion, the  Swedish  ambassadors  were  on  the  point  of 
leaving  the  Congress,  and  the  French  were  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  threats  in  order  to  detain  them. 

The  good  intentions  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  to 
include  the  emperor  in  the  benefit  of  the  truce,  having 
been  thus  rendered  unavailing,  he  felt  himself  justified 
in  providing  for  his  own  safety.  However  hard  were 
the  conditions  on  which  the  truce  was  to  be  purchased, 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  it  on  any  terms.  He  agreed 
to  the  Swedes  extending  their  quarters  in  Suabia  and 
Franconia,  and  to  his  own  being  restricted  to  Bavaria  and 
the  Palatinate.  •The  conquests  which  he  had  made  in 
Suabia  were  ceded  to  the  allies,  who,  on  their  part, 
restored  to  him  what  they  had  taken  from  Bavaria. 
Cologne  and  Hesse  Cassel  were  also  included  in  the 
truce.  After  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  upon  the  14th 
March,  1647,  the  French  and  Swedes  left  Bavaria,  and 
in  order  not  to  interfere  with  each  other,  took  up  differ- 
ent quarters  ;  the  former  in  Wirtemburg,  the  latter  in 
Upper  Suabia,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  lake  of  Bode. 
On  the  extreme  north  of  this  lake,  and  on  the  most 
southern  frontier  of  Suabia,  the  Austrian  town  of  Bre- 
gentz,  by  its  steep  and  narrow  passes,  seemed  to  defy 
attack ;  and  in  this  persuasion,  the  whole  peasantry  of 
the  surrounding  villages  had,  with  their  property,  taken 
refuge  in  this  natural  fortress.  The  rich  booty  which 
the  store  of  provisions  it  contained  gave  reason  to  expect, 
and  the  advantage  of  possessing  a  pass  into  the  Tyrol, 
Switzerland,  and  Italy,  induced  the  Swedish  general  to 
venture  an  attack  upon  this  supposed  impregnable  post 
and  town.  Meantime,  Turenne,  according  to  agree- 
ment, marched  into  Wirtemburg,  where  he  forced  the 
Landgrave  of  Darmstadt  and  the  Elector  of  Mentz  to 
imitate  the  example  of  Bavaria,  and  to  embrace  the  neu- 
trality. 

And  now,  at  last,  France  seemed  to  have  attained  the 
great  object  of  its  policy,  that  of  depriving  the  emperor 
of  the  support  of  the  League,  and.  of  his  Protestant  allies, 
and  of  dictating  to  him,  sword  in  hand,  the  conditions  of 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war.  365 


peace.  Of  all  his  once  formidable  power,  an  army,  not 
exceeding  twelve  thousand,  was  all  that  remained  to 
him;  and  this  force  he  was  driven  to  the  necessity  of 
intrusting  to  the  command  of  a  Calvinist,  the  Hessian 
deserter  Melander,  as  the  casualties  of  war  had  stripped 
him  of  his  best  generals.  But  as  this  war  had  been  re- 
markable for  the  sudden  changes  of  fortune  it  displayed; 
and  as  every  calculation  of  state  policy  had  been  fre- 
quently baffled  by  some  unforeseen  event,  in  this  case 
also  the  issue  disappointed  expectation  ;  and  after  a 
brief  crisis,  the  fallen  power  of  Austria  rose  again  to  a 
formidable  strength.  The  jealousy  which  France  en- 
tertained of  Sweden  prevented  it  from  permitting  the 
total  ruin  of  the  emperor,  or  allowing  the  Swedes  to  ob- 
tain such  a  preponderance  in  Germany,  which  might 
have  been  destructive  to  France  herself.  Accordingly,  the 
French  minister  declined  to  take  advantage  of  the  dis- 
tresses of  Austria  ;  and  the  army  of  Türen ne,  separat- 
ing from  that  of  Wrangel,  retired  to  the  frontiers  of  the 
Netherlands.  Wrangel,  indeed,  after  moving  from  Sua- 
bia  into  Franconia,  taking  Schweinfurt,  and  incorporat- 
ing the  imperial  garrison  of  that  place  with  his  own 
army,  attempted  to  make  his  way  into  Bohemia,  and 
laid  siege  to  Egra,  the  key  of  that  kingdom.  To  relieve 
this  fortress,  the  emperor  put  his  last  army  in  motion, 
and  placed  himself  at  its  head.  But  obliged  to  take  a 
long  circuit,  in  order  to  spare  the  lands  of  Von  Schlick, 
the  president  of  the  council  of  war,  he  protracted  his 
march ;  and  on  his  arrival  Egra  was  already  taken. 
Both  armies  were  now  in  sight,  of  each  other  ;  and  a 
decisive  battle  was  momentarily  expected,  as  both  were 
suffering  from  want,  and  the  two  camps  were  only  sep- 
arated from  each  other  by  the  space  of  the  intrench- 
ments.  But  the  imperialists,  although  superior  in 
numbers,  contented  themselves  with  keeping  close  to 
the  enemy,  and  harassing  them  by  skirmishes,  by  fa- 
tiguing marches,  and  famine,  until  the  negotiations  which 
had  been  opened  with  Bavaria  were  brought  to  a  bear- 
ing. 

The  neutrality  of  Bavaria  was  a  wound  under  which 
the  imperial  court  writhed  impatiently ;  and  after  in 
vain  attempting  to  prevent  it,  Austria  now  determined, 

h  h  2 


366      schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


if  possible,  to  turn  it  to  advantage.  Several  officers  of 
the  Bavarian  army  had  been  offended  by  this  step  of 
their  master,  which  at  once  reduced  them  to  inaction, 
and  imposed  a  burdensome  restraint  on  their  restless 
disposition.  Even  the  brave  John  de  Werth  was  at  the 
head  of  the  malcontents,  and,  encouraged  by  the  em- 
peror, he  formed  a  plot  to  seduce  the  whole  army  from 
their  allegiance  to  the  elector,  and  leading  it  over  to  the 
emperor.  Ferdinand  did  not  blush  to  patronize  this  act 
of  treachery  against  his  father's  most  trusty  ally.  He 
formally  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Bavarian  troops, 
in  which  he  recalled  them  to  himself,  reminded  them 
that  they  were  the  troops  of  the  empire,  which  the 
elector  had  merely  commanded  in  name  of  the  emperor. 
Fortunately  for  Maximilian,  he  detected  the  conspiracy 
time  enough  to  anticipate  and  prevent  it  by  the  most 
rapid  and  effective  measures. 

This  disgraceful  conduct  of  the  emperor  might  have 
justified  a  reprisal,  but  Maximilian  was  too  old  a  states- 
man to  listen  to  the  voice  of  passion,  where  policy  alone 
ought  to  be  heard.  He  had  not  derived  from  the  truce 
the  advantages  he  expected.  Far  from  tending  to  ac- 
celerate a  general  peace,  it  had  a  pernicious  influence 
upon  the  negotiations  at  Munster  and  Osnaburg,  and  had 
made  the  allies  bolder  in  their  demands.  The  French 
and  Swedes  had  indeed  removed  from  Bavaria;  but,  by 
the  loss  of  his  quarters  in  the  Suabian  circle,  he  found 
himself  compelled  either  to  exhaust  his  own  territories 
by  the  subsistence  of  his  troops,  or  at  once  to  disband 
them,  and  to  throw  aside  the  shield  and  spear,  at  the 
very  moment  when  the  sword  alone  seemed  to  be  the 
arbiter  of  right.  Before  embracing  either  of  these  cer- 
tain evils,  he  determined  to  try  a  third  step,  the  unfa- 
vorable issue  of  which  was  at  least  not  so  certain,  viz.,  to 
renounce  the  truce  and  resume  the  war. 

This  resolution,  and  the  assistance  which  he  imme- 
diately dispatched  to  the  emperor  in  Bohemia,  threat- 
ened materially  to  injure  the  Swedes,  and  Wrangel 
was  compelled  in  haste  to  evacuate  that  kingdom.  He 
retired  through  Thuringia  into  Westphalia  and  Lunen- 
burg, in  the  hope  of  forming  a  junction  with  the  French 
tinny  under  Turenne,  whiis  the  imperial  and  Bavarian 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


367 


army  followed  him  to  the  Weser,  under  Melander  and 
Gronsfeld.  His  ruin  was  inevitable,  if  the  enemy  should 
overtake  him  before  his  junction  with  Turenne  ;  but  the 
same  consideration  which  had  just  saved  the  emperor 
now  proved  the  salvation  of  the  Swedes.  Even  amid 
all  the  fury  of  the  conquest,  cold  calculations  of  prudence 
guided  the  course  of  the  war,  and  the  vigilance  of  the 
different  courts  increased,  as  the  prospect  of  peace  ap- 
proached. The  Elector  of  Bavaria  could  not  allow  the 
emperor  to  obtain  so  decisive  a  preponderance  as,  by 
the  sudden  alteration  of  affairs,  might  delay  the  chances 
of  a  general  peace.  Every  change  of  fortune  was  im- 
portant now,  when  a  pacification  was  so  ardently  desired 
by  all,  and  when  the  disturbance  of  the  balance  of  power 
among  the  contracting  parties  might  at  once  annihilate 
the  work  of  years,  destroy  the  fruit  of  long  and  tedious 
negotiations,  and  indefinitely  protract  the  repose  of  Eu- 
rope. If  France  sought  to  restrain  the  Swedish  crown 
within  due  bounds,  and  measured  out  her  assistance 
according  to  her  successes  and  defeats,  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria  silently  undertook  the  same  task  with  the  em- 
peror his  ally,  and  determined,  by  prudently  dealing  out 
his  aid,  to  hold  the  fate  of  Austria  in  his  own  hands. 
And  now  that  the  power  of  the  emperor  threatened 
once  more  to  attain  a  dangerous  superiority,  Maximilian 
at  once  ceased  to  pursue  the  Swedes.  He  was  also 
afraid  of  reprisals  from  France,  who  had  threatened  to 
direct  Turenne's  whole  force  against  him,  if  he  allowed 
his  troops  to  cross  the  Weser. 

Melander,  prevented  by  the  Bavarians  from  further 
pursuing  Wrangel,  crossed  by  Jena  and  Erfurt  into 
Hesse,  and  now  appeared  as  a  dangerous  enemy  in  the 
country  which  he  had  formerly  defended.  If  it  was  the 
desire  of  revenge  upon  his  former  sovereign  which  led 
him  to  choose  Hesse  for  the  scene  of  his  ravage,  he  cer- 
tainly had  his  full  gratification.  Under  this  scourge,  the 
miseries  of  that  unfortunate  state  reached  their  height. 
But  he  had  soon  reason  to  regret  that,  in  the  choice  of 
his  quarters,  he  had  listened  to  the  dictates  of  revenge 
rather  than  of  prudence.  In  this  exhausted  country 
his  army  was  oppressed  by  want,  while  Wrangel  was 
recruiting  his  strength,  and  remounting  his  cavalry  in 


368 


schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


Lunenburg.  Too  weak  to  maintain  his  wretched  quar- 
ters against  the  Swedish  general,  when  he  opened  the 
campaign  in  the  winter  of  1648,  and  marched  against 
Hesse,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  with  disgrace,  and  take 
refuge  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 

France  had  once  more  disappointed  the  expectations 
of  Sweden  ;  and  the  army  of  Turenne,  disregarding  the 
remonstrances  of  Wrangel,  had  remained  upon  the 
Rhine.  The  Swedish  leader  revenged  himself  by 
drawing  into  his  service  the  cavalry  of  Weimar,  which 
had  abandoned  the  standard  of  France,  though,  by  this 
step,  he  farther  increased  the  jealousy  of  that  power. 
Turenne  received  permission  to  join  the  Swedes;  and 
the  last  campaign  of  this  eventful  war  was  now  opened 
by  the  united  armies.  Driving  Melander  before  them 
along  the  Danube,  they  threw  supplies  into  Egra,  which 
was  besieged  by  the  imperialists,  and  defeated  the  im- 
perial and  Bavarian  armies  on  the  Danube,  which  ven- 
tured to  oppose  them  at  Susmarshausen,  where  Me- 
lander was  mortally  wounded.  After  this  overthrow, 
the  Bavarian  general,  Gronsfeld,  placed  himself  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  Lech,  in  order  to  guard  Bavaria  from 
the  enemy. 

But  Gronsfeld  was  not  more  fortunate  than  Tilly, 
who,  in  this  same  position,  had  sacrificed  his  life  for 
Bavaria.  Wrangel  and  Turenne  chose  the  same  spot 
for  passing  the  river,  which  was  so  gloriously  marked  by 
the  victory  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  accomplished  it 
by  the  same  means,  too,  which  had  favored  their  prede- 
cessor. Bavaria  was  now  a  second  time  overrun,  and 
the  breach  of  the  truce  punished  by  the  severest  treat- 
ment of  its  inhabitants.  Maximilian  sought  shelter  in 
Salzburg,  while  the  Swedes  crossed  the  Iser,  and  forced 
their  way  as  far  as  the  Inn.  A  violent  and  continued 
rain,  which  in  a  few  days  swelled  this  inconsiderable 
stream  into  a  broad  river,  saved  Austria  once  more  from 
the  thi-eatened  danger.  The  enemy  ten  times  attempt- 
ed to  form  a  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Inn,  and  as  often 
it  was  destroyed  by  the  current.  Never,  during  the 
whole  course  of  the  war,  had  the  imperialists  been  in 
so  great  consternation  as  at  present,  when  the  enemy 
were  in  the  center  of  Bavaria,  and  when  they  had  no 


Schiller's  thirty  years'  war. 


369 


longer  a  general  left  who  could  be  matched  against  a 
Turenne,  a  Wrangel,  and  a  Koenigsmark.  At  last  the 
brave  Piccoloraini  arrived  from  the  Netherlands,  to  as- 
sume the  command  of  the  feeble  wreck  of  the  imperi- 
alists. By  their  own  ravages  in  Bohemia,  the  allies  had 
rendered  their  subsistence  in  that  country  impracticable, 
and  were  at  last  driven  by  scarcity  to  retreat  into  the 
Upper  Palatinate,  where  the  news  of  the  peace  put  a 
period  to  their  activity. 

Koenigsmark,  with  his  flying-corps,  advanced  toward 
Bohemia,  where  Ernest  Odowalsky,  a  disbanded  cap- 
tain, who,  after  being  disabled  in  the  imperial  service, 
had  been  dismissed  without  a  pension,  laid  before  him  a 
plan  for  surprising  the  lesser  side  of  the  city  of  Prague. 
Koenigsmark  successfully  accomplished  the  bold  enter- 
prise, and  acquired  the  reputation  of  closing  the  thirty 
years'  war  by  the  last  brilliant  achievement.  This  de- 
cisive stroke,  which  vanquished  the  emperor's  irresolu- 
tion, cost  the  Swedes  only  the  loss  of  a  single  man. 
But  the  old  town,  the  larger  half  of  Prague,  which  is 
divided  into  two  parts  by  the  Moldau,  by  its  vigorous 
resistance  wearied  out  the  efforts  of  the  palatine,  Charles 
Gustavus,  the  successor  of  Christina  on  the  throne,  who 
had  arrived  from  Sweden  with  fresh  troops,  and  had 
assembled  the  whole  Swedish  force  in  Bohemia  and 
Silesia  before  its  walls.  The  approach  of  winter  at  last 
drove  the  besiegers  into  their  quarters,  and  in  the  mean 
time,  the  intelligence  arrived  that  a  peace  had  been 
signed  at  Munster,  on  the  24th  October. 

The  colossal  labor  of  concluding  this  solemn,  and  ever 
memorable  and  sacred  treaty,  which  is  known  by  the 
name  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia ;  the  endless  obstacles 
which  were  to  be  surmounted  ;  the  contending  interests 
which  it  was  necessary  to  reconcile  ;  the  concatenation 
of  circumstances  which  must  have  cooperated  to  bring 
to  a  favorable  termination  this  tedious,  but  precious  and 
permanent  work  of  policy ;  the  difficulties  which  beset 
the  very  opening  of  the  negotiations,  and  maintaining 
them,  when  opened,  during  the  ever-fluctuating  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  war ;  finally,  arranging  the  conditions  of 
peace,  and,  still  more,  the  carrying  them  into  effect; — 
what  were  the  conditions  of  this  peace  ;  what  each  con- 
24 


370       sciiiller's  thirty  years'  war. 

tending  power  gained  or  lost,  by  the  toils  and  sufferings 
of  a  thirty  years'  war ;  what  modification  it  wrought 
upon  the  general  system  of  European  policy  ; — these 
are  matters  which  must  be  relinquished  to  another  pen. 
The  history  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia  constitutes  a 
whole,  as  important  as  the  history  of  the  war  itself.  A 
mere  abridgment  of  it  would  reduce  to  a  mere  skeleton 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  characteristic  monu- 
ments of  human  policy  and  passions,  and  deprive  it  of 
every  feature  calculated  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  pub- 
lic, for  which  I  write,  and  of  which  I  now  respectfully 
take  my  leave. 


THE  END 


